[ Claire laughs heartily at that, head going back a little and eyes crinkling in the corners when she does. ]
Alright, consider me compromised. I'll be happy to help. [ She pauses, smile not quite fading, but lessening. ] That is, if we're both still here. I wouldn't mind going home, but I like having something to look forward to with a friend. [ She smiles again and adds cinnamon chips, her final ingredient with the tea leaves. As he speaks, her expression turns softer and a little angrier at the world as she thinks. ]
There's something sad, really, in the idea of living so long and seeing hate remain more or less the same. What's something that's changed for the better in your time?
[ Hate hasn't gone anywhere, it's just evolved, but she still wants better for her daughter, for her grandchildren. She was still scorned and ridiculed at Harvard for wanting to dare to be as good or better than the men studying to become doctors. And Joe was still forced to sit segregated from everyone else—she always sat with him until laws changed and they could sit anywhere.
Laws change, people haven't. And yet her hope remains. ]
It must be exhausting to be intolerant, but at least here, I can say I've not run across anyone who seems to have an ugliness for those different from them.
[ Perhaps that's the beauty of Abraxas, the one single (barest) hint of a more perfect society. ] As for the factions, I'm with you. It seems unnecessarily restrictive and set up to cause more discord. The Berlin wall certainly didn't last forever, people want to be connected. With the Horizon, I suppose that makes it somewhat better.
[ The mention of someone from home is always a reminder that yes, in fact she does have a person here she recognizes, and Claire nods. ]
Not when I first arrived, but right at the tail end of all the missing being brought home. I don't know him well, but apparently, we're quite close. [ Ahem. If she had a relationship status it wouldn't just be 'it's complicated.' It would be 'I think I'm married to the man who's in love with my husband, but I'm too afraid to ask.' ]
He's in Thorne, so we've only met in person once. What about you, anyone from home?
!!!
Alright, consider me compromised. I'll be happy to help. [ She pauses, smile not quite fading, but lessening. ] That is, if we're both still here. I wouldn't mind going home, but I like having something to look forward to with a friend. [ She smiles again and adds cinnamon chips, her final ingredient with the tea leaves. As he speaks, her expression turns softer and a little angrier at the world as she thinks. ]
There's something sad, really, in the idea of living so long and seeing hate remain more or less the same. What's something that's changed for the better in your time?
[ Hate hasn't gone anywhere, it's just evolved, but she still wants better for her daughter, for her grandchildren. She was still scorned and ridiculed at Harvard for wanting to dare to be as good or better than the men studying to become doctors. And Joe was still forced to sit segregated from everyone else—she always sat with him until laws changed and they could sit anywhere.
Laws change, people haven't. And yet her hope remains. ]
It must be exhausting to be intolerant, but at least here, I can say I've not run across anyone who seems to have an ugliness for those different from them.
[ Perhaps that's the beauty of Abraxas, the one single (barest) hint of a more perfect society. ] As for the factions, I'm with you. It seems unnecessarily restrictive and set up to cause more discord. The Berlin wall certainly didn't last forever, people want to be connected. With the Horizon, I suppose that makes it somewhat better.
[ The mention of someone from home is always a reminder that yes, in fact she does have a person here she recognizes, and Claire nods. ]
Not when I first arrived, but right at the tail end of all the missing being brought home. I don't know him well, but apparently, we're quite close. [ Ahem. If she had a relationship status it wouldn't just be 'it's complicated.' It would be 'I think I'm married to the man who's in love with my husband, but I'm too afraid to ask.' ]
He's in Thorne, so we've only met in person once. What about you, anyone from home?