[ Maia, for whom 'shooting' means something entirely different than it does to Finn, is now fully imagining paintball as some kind of (no doubt mounted, because he's never been hunting but he's heard a lot of dudes talking about their stables for hours at boring court functions) sport where people shoot one another with arrows that are somehow padded and tipped in paint. Which explains his nonsensical response of: ]
I may try that, though I must admit I have little skill on horseback.
[ It's surprising, actually, how much it hurts reading the unknown stranger's reply. To think that his freedom does mean something. That it matters, and has weight. For someone to insist on that, not even knowing him, strangely overwhelms Maia, and he actually feels tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. Foolish. ]
Perhaps you are right. I am not accustomed to thinking of myself as worth much.
[ Maia is new to this whole anonymous communication thing, and just discovering that it makes certain truths a hell of a lot easier to admit. All this honesty is a bit dizzying. ]
Many things are not as they should be. Some of those can be mended, and they should be, but my situation is not one of them. If I do not return, I will cause suffering. It would not only be selfish, but an act of evil. It would be murder, for at least two people I love [ WHEW he really just said that ] as surely as if I held the knife. So I must give it up, or else become a villain. There is no alternative.
no subject
I may try that, though I must admit I have little skill on horseback.
[ It's surprising, actually, how much it hurts reading the unknown stranger's reply. To think that his freedom does mean something. That it matters, and has weight. For someone to insist on that, not even knowing him, strangely overwhelms Maia, and he actually feels tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. Foolish. ]
Perhaps you are right. I am not accustomed to thinking of myself as worth much.
[ Maia is new to this whole anonymous communication thing, and just discovering that it makes certain truths a hell of a lot easier to admit. All this honesty is a bit dizzying. ]
Many things are not as they should be. Some of those can be mended, and they should be, but my situation is not one of them. If I do not return, I will cause suffering. It would not only be selfish, but an act of evil. It would be murder, for at least two people I love [ WHEW he really just said that ] as surely as if I held the knife. So I must give it up, or else become a villain. There is no alternative.