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 Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 8:31 pm
Wisp hauled herself up to the bonnet of the car in order to affix the earring better: she patted it to make sure, and then bounced down again. "Done," she said. "We're so awesome!"
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 8:33 pm
He grunted, not having liked it whatsoever. She coulda died! And he got cursed at, and all they had done was break a sewer lid and tie up a jerk that carried a gun. And-- "I'm not a hero," he said lowly.
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 8:35 pm
"You stopped a car from being stolen," she pointed out, "and you were brave and upheld justice, you didn't let the police come in and mess everything up. You are a hero."
Wisp smiled at him, dancing out into the sidewalk, hopping from foot to foot. "You're a hero to me," she said, "and I bet you're a hero to Rory."
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 8:37 pm
"I wanted to hurt him, Wisp. I was that close to breaking him into pieces like I did with that stupid sewer cover," he admitted. "He was a jerk. I wanted to--I wanted to kill him," he whispered, looking at his hand. It was shaking slightly.
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 8:39 pm
Wisp took his hand; she leant her face into it, still smiling at him, as though it had been a totally okay thing to say. "It was the first time," she said, "it'll be hard, really hard. But remember what we're fighting for, okay? Freedom. And he didn't hurt me, so it's fine, I'm fine, you're fine. You didn't hurt him. You taught him a lesson."
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 8:42 pm
"Wake up, Wisp, I can break a freakin' inch and a half thick piece of solid metal in half," he snapped. "You think I couldn't accidentally kill someone?"
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 8:48 pm
She looked surprised. "Well, yeah," she said, "but you know better than to hit somebody full-on, or pick them up in the wrong place, or punch them if you're mad."
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 8:49 pm
"Sometimes what you know and what you do aren't the same things," he said slowly. "I got to tell you, I guess. You remember Merroth? The annoying kid in daycare?"
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 8:51 pm
"Missy told me this story, and so did you," she said, smiling. Why was he so worried? "You squished that xylophone. I mean, you just did it to scare him, right? You didn't want to squish him, did you?"
Her eyes were implicitly trusting: Chris never would.
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 8:52 pm
"I almost threw him through the roof," he said. "I wanted to. I had him by the waist and everything. Don't think I'm perfect, Wisp," he said. "Don't ever think that."
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 8:54 pm
That sank in; Wisp hugged herself and her expression grew a little forlorn, a little lost, mulling over it all in her head. He had wanted to throw Merroth -- and who hadn't -- but he'd started, and.
After a little while she said in a little voice: "I still think you're perfect. Because you didn't."
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 8:56 pm
'I'm not perfect," he said. "Especially when you keep throwing temptation in my face, do you understand?" he asked. "Picture it this way. It's like graffiti for you. Say there's the ugliest wall you've ever seen and it's yelling cursewords at you. What would you want to do?"
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 8:58 pm
"Draw on it," she said promptly. Realising the analogy, her face screwed up, and she protested -- "but that's not the same, Chris! Drawing on a wall isn't bad, it's, it's freedom of expression, it's art! Killing somebody is -- it's so awful, it's not something you really want to do, not something you think is right. Right?" Her voice wavered a little. "I'm right, right?"
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 9:00 pm
"What if you couldn't draw on it... but you could knock it down?" he asked instead of answering that.
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Posted: Thu May 08, 2008 9:02 pm
Wisp was wringing her hands without meaning to, eyes troubled, leaning from leg to leg as she looked at him. "Knock it down?" she said, "I guess, but -- I mean, is it a bad wall? Is it ugly?"
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