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[prodigalvampire]

Okay, everyone, I can't take the silence anymore. What's the consensus on the party Halcyn's throwing? It smells like a trap to me, but that's never kept me from a good time.

[There's a pause here as though he's shifting verbal gears.]

And has anyone else noticed the altars around town? Weird, right?

Comments

[skyward_eyes]

What is Halloween?

[prodigalvampire]

[The urge to burst out in song is strong, but he resists.]

It's a collection of a lot of different traditions, but most recently, it's become a night where kids dress up in costumes and go door to door begging for candy and adults wear costumes as an excuse to throw a party and drink heavily.

[skyward_eyes]

I didn't know we needed an excuse to throw a party and drink heavily?

[He laughs at the idea that it was needed.]

[prodigalvampire]

That's because you're a kid and kids don't.  Adults have to at least pretend to be responsible.

[His tone was teasing.]

[skyward_eyes]

Oh, I'm responsible.

[He won't deny being young. He doesn't feel less than confident about his own age. He's been through too much shit.]

I don't drink, does that help?

[prodigalvampire]

Where's the fun in that?

[Nida. He wasn't shaming those kids. He is one of those kids, even if he's in his 40s.]

[skyward_eyes]

Sobriety.

[And Nida... just didn't trust himself and alcohol to be in the same place.]

[prodigalvampire]

Heh. Sounds fake.

cw: alcoholism

[skyward_eyes]

For those of us with alcohol abuse problems, it's REALLY not.

cw: alcoholism

[prodigalvampire]

Hey, we all have our vices.

[skyward_eyes]

I'd rather not have that one.

[prodigalvampire]

Damn, it'd be great if we could choose, wouldn't it?

[skyward_eyes]

Well, I choose to fight it, so that's something, right?

[prodigalvampire]

Yeah.

That's the difference between you and me, I guess.

[skyward_eyes]

That I dislike myself when I'm self-destructing?

[prodigalvampire]

[He chuckles, but there's a self-deprecating sound to it.]

That you can choose. Then again, I guess I could, too.

[He could choose to stop fighting the demon wrapped around his soul, he could let it have the last dregs of his humanity.

But the was too damned stubborn.]

[skyward_eyes]

I like to think there's always a choice. That we're always making choices.

[prodigalvampire]

Sure, but when your choices both suck, what's the difference?

[skyward_eyes]

For me, it was a difference between wallowing and living. I chose to live.

[prodigalvampire]

Well, lucky for you choosing to live doesn't sacrifice other people.

[skyward_eyes]

Sometimes. Sometimes it's what we're forced into.

[prodigalvampire]

You have no idea.

[skyward_eyes]

Nope. Nor do I believe that I can make them better, so at least I'm rational enough to know that all I can do is offer words and hope they inspire something.

[prodigalvampire]

You can't inspire a monster to be human.

[Melodramatic? maybe a little, but melodrama is one of Thomas' hidden talents.]

[skyward_eyes]

I don't know. Humanity is more than a mental state. And being a monster is more than having things you need to do that humans don't need to do.

[He's met a vampire before, after all.]