THE CITY INBOX.

[vecna]

USERNAME: VECNA HENRY CREEL STRANGER THINGS TEXT • AUDIO • VIDEO • ACTION • OVERFLOW

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Comments

[vecna]

Generally, yes. [This is a difference of heroism, here. Can you tell one of these character is a villain.] Why would you throw yourself into danger for the sake of an almost-stranger unless you had something to prove? Or a more practical reason, I guess.

[fanstheflames]

Well, if I let someone get hurt or worse, they stay an almost-stranger forever and nothing changes, for me or for them. You never know what someone's going to end up being to you, in the long run.

[vecna]

[That's an interesting way to look at it, he thinks. Almost pragmatic in its way of justifying coming to the aid of a rando.]

You make it sound like it's a priority of yours to collect as many friends as possible.

[fanstheflames]

It just kind of reminds me of what you said, that your family never tried to understand you. I think a lot of things can change if people have support, one way or another.

[vecna]

[Hm.]

Maybe. That depends on who you want to support, and who you want to "change." Do you think people can change no matter what's already happened to them over the course of their lives?

[fanstheflames]

Yeah.

[ calmly. ]

[vecna]

[Smilingly.]

I think that's naive of you.

[fanstheflames]

[ Just as smilingly. ]

That's okay. I'm used to close-minded people assuming that about me.

[vecna]

Now you're putting words in my mouth.

[THEY CAN DO THIS ALL DAY, MA'AM]

I didn't say you were naive, but I think that belief in particular doesn't account for the range of experiences life might throw at a person. Change only happens when someone wants to make it, too.

[fanstheflames]

And you asked if I think people can change, not whether they will.

[ THEY SURE CAN!!! ]

I don't think either of us can say whether someone will decide to or not. But I do think everyone's got that potential.

[vecna]

[Something about this line of conversation irks him. It's not so much dealing in semantics as the topic itself, brushing a little too close to bone-deep misantropy.]

Maybe. I'll give you that much.

[But.]

But that's a very small percentage of people. [Anyway, he continues walking! Perhaps, if one has keen eyes, the flicker of a shadow moves along the row of mirrors nearby. For now, Henry's focused on the conversation.] I think what we're disagreeing on, really, is someone's inherent willingness to change.

[fanstheflames]

[ She glances towards the shadow but opts not to mention it. ]

Mm... maybe that's it. So you think people are just too stuck in their ways after a certain point to want to change?

[vecna]

[Don't mention the spooky things, Tsuruno, it's probably fine.]

I think people trick themselves into thinking they're happy to be stuck in their ways, no matter what they say. It's easy to fall in-line with expectations and what you're used to. Even if it's suffocating, most keep marching on that way until the end.

[fanstheflames]

... Are you happy, Henry?

[vecna]

[Absolutely not.

Of course he just smiles though, looking at her askance.]

I think I'm all right, given all that's happened to me. [What a question, Tsuruno.] But, at the same time, no. I'm angry about a lot of things, too.

[fanstheflames]

Oh.

... Then we're the same, a little.

[vecna]

[His brows cinch just a little, questioningly.]

You mean that you're angry, too?

[fanstheflames]

Yeah. I'm all right, but I'm also angry.

But the things I'm angry at aren't here, so there hasn't really been a point in saying anything about it.

[vecna]

[And, despite himself, Henry has to laugh just a little. It's probably one of the more sincere sounds she's earned from him, because it's underlined ever-so-slightly with something that nearly sounds... bitter.]

But it could help to talk about it, though. Or do you not want others to see that side of you?

[Certainly Henry's own reasoning, at least.]

[fanstheflames]

[ It's difficult not to hear it, not because Tsuruno is particularly looking for it, but because she's someone who takes notice of everything she can. Uses it. Learns from it. Either way, she hears it, and she wonders at it. ]

What a lot of people want to hear... isn't that. I think you do want to hear it, though. To see it from me.

I'm not sure why.

[vecna]

[He doesn't respond immediately, judging precisely how he wishes to reply in the first place.]

I like to know what people are hiding. Whether it's on purpose or otherwise.

I think that's the closest thing to seeing someone's true self.

[fanstheflames]

That's not wrong, but what if they don't want to share it?

[vecna]

Then it's disappointing, but not particularly surprising.

[Then it's just the default. Everyone hiding their real selves beneath.]

[fanstheflames]

And what about you? Are you honest with people here?

[vecna]

[No. Henry Creel is a walking, talking hypocrite in many ways. This is perhaps the biggest one.

So, of course:]

I keep a little anger to myself sometimes. But nothing that hides what I am.