Tale as Old As Time [Finished]

[yamikuronue]

"It's not about amends!" Lance pants, struggling to bring his voice down.

"It's not about amends. Nothing can ever make up for what I did. It's about what sort of life I deserve. I don't know what possessed you to take my place; if I could have, I'd have stopped you."

[CalamityJade]

Obsidian took a couple of breaths. "Fuck that. I wouldn't have let you. I took your place because no one would believe what happened and those that would...it'd destroy everything, not just you." He looked around at the walls. "And to see you just....sitting there and acting like it would have been better if you died? Doesn't solve a damn thing."

[yamikuronue]

"Maybe it would have been better! Did you think of that?!"

[CalamityJade]

"OF course I have!" Obsidian snapped at Lance. "I replay everything about that day...and you know what I figured...either they'd be mourning you, or you'd be mourning them, and knowing you, you wouldn't do anything to make them feel worse off."

[yamikuronue]

"Worse than dead?" he snaps, savagely.

[CalamityJade]

"There's a lot of things worse than death, Lance." Obsidian tried to take a few calming breaths. "And since I can't change the past, I have to deal with the present...and that includes draging your head out from your ass. What the fuck do you mean 'what kind of life you deserve?' You think that they'd blame you for what happened...that for a moment they'd think you would do that WILLINGLY?!"

[yamikuronue]

"Does it matter? They're dead. Nobody will ever know what they wanted again."

[CalamityJade]

"I do...maybe not all of them, but that brother of mine...he was easy to read." Obsidian looked away. "He'd want you to keep on living...he'd want whatever life you have to be a happy one...and he wouldn't blame you for something you couldn't control."

[yamikuronue]

"If he was here, he'd hate me for killing his family." Lance's voice catches, but he forces the words out. "Mother would be the same. And Muriel... "

[CalamityJade]

"If they knew...that you had NO control over it. That it was an accident, they wouldn't stand here accusing you! Do you think they cared so little for you, than to condem you for that?!"

[yamikuronue]

"It was my fault." Lance's eyes shimmer with tears he's struggling to hold back. "If I hadn't been so stupid..."

[accalia]

The door clicked softly behind Echo muffling Obsidian's cutting words. Echo smiles to himself as he walks towards the kitchens. Rosanna had long since fled and the argument seemed to be settling for the long run.

Echo reaches the kitchen door shortly and puts his hand on it to open...

[CalamityJade]

"You had no idea...hell, I might not have realized either...were I in your place, would you blame me...condem me to hell for the same actions?"

[yamikuronue]

Rosanna's sitting at the kitchen table with a plate of food; she glances up from her paperback novel as Echo comes in, gesturing toward the stove where food can be found. "I should have guessed," she says, a little embarrassed. "They used to go at it like loggerheads."

Lance starts to reply, then falls silent, at a loss. He has no real idea how he'd feel if it were Obsidian. Finally, his tone dark, he says, "I'd kill you if you touched my sister. But that's probably because I'm a monster. If I wasn't... I don't know."

[accalia]

"Aye, they are. This one thinks that they'll be going at it for a while. The next few days should be interesting, and one hopes good for the Master."

Echo puts together a small plate of food and sits at the table across from Rosanna.

"One wonders, would it be a good idea to prepare some willow bark tea for them after? that argument is bound to give them headaches..."