A Conversation in the Dark

[Jade Stone]

[ and a weird exploration of a dialogue-only post =D ]

"If you would, Jade, explain to me why we're listening to this song for the seventh time in a row?"
"Because that's how people mope, Damon."
"Is it also in the name of moping that we're laying on the floor with the lights off staring at the bare ceiling?"
"Yes."
"I see." Silence. "And you're certain that I can't persuade you instead to hunt - ?"
"No, Damon."
" - I find a good hunt is the perfect - "
"NO, Damon."
"Fair enough."
Silence.
"I hate it here."
"I'm aware, Jade."
"I hate it here and I hate them for making me stay here - "
"I'm aware - "
" - AND I hate the people here, these people with their judgements and expectations and attitudes and agendas, it's…"
"Humanity at its finest?"
"RUDE, that's what it is, it's worse than St. Louis!"
"Is it really, angel?"
"…No."
"As I suspected."
"You say that like that fact is supposed to be some kind of consolation, and it's not."
"No, it's not."
"See."
"Frankly? I don't see at all. Speaking as someone well into my fourth century, Jade, I can assure you that one of Nature's gifts has never been to populate this world or any other with tolerable people."
"Then why are you still here?"
"In Rhy'din?"
"No. Living. Period."
"Ah."
"Don't roll your eyes at me, I'm seriously asking."
"And that's precisely why I rolled my eyes. That's such a fledgling question, one you should be above asking at this point - "
" - that doesn't mean I don't want an answer, Damon."
"Because, Jade, the simple truth is that not one of my aims hinge on the beneficence or tolerability of humanity."
"At all."
"No."
"I don't believe you - "
"That sounds like your problem."
"Don't be a jerk, Damon - "
" - then don't be a naive child."
"So if planet Earth just blew up right now as we were laying here…?"
"I'd mourn the loss of Italy. Last time I checked, my country is not a person."
"The entire planet, and…? That's…that's just…"
"Inhumane of me? Precisely. Not human. Which is just as true for you as it is for me. Or should be, rather. Frankly, if that scenario came to pass I'd think you should be ecstatic, as it would certainly take care of your problems with the Three and St. Louis."
"Har har. If the Earth blew up, I'd go crazy."
"I haven't a clue why. Besides the obvious differences, one planet's the same as the next - "
" - you don't really believe that - "
" - make no mistake, Jade, I do."
"Well I don't feel that way at all."
"Obviously."
"I don't feel inhuman, either."
"Yes, and therein lies one of the many reasons why humans are not to be given the blood until a riper age."
"Oh get off it, Damon, I'm - "
"Stuck as an unwilling adolescent. Or are you telling me it doesn't bother you at all that people continually mistake you for a teenybopper?"
"Teenybopper, Damon? Who says teenybopper..."
"You're avoiding the question."
Silence.
"As mortals grow up, Jade, they expect the world around them to grow up as well. Erroneously, once they have matured they believe the world has also. But the world hasn't actually changed at all, only the mortal's expectations of the world have. It's your forever adolescent expectations of the world at large, Jade, that are keeping you clinging to your humanity like it means something worthwhile."
"….neat."
"Hardly. As I've said ad nauseum every time such drama as this comes to its head, I am more than willing to instruct you - "
" - and by instruct you mean mold me into your dark princess of doom - "
" - Your ongoing fears about my intentions, my instructions and the effects I have no desire to control. The decision must be yours, which is most unfortunate as what I can provide you could entirely transform your circumstances. What are disadvantages to you now could be, when weened through another perspective, advantages so great that I daresay even I cannot see the entire scope of the resulting benefits."
"Yeah, big shiny benefits for you, I bet. I'd rather you just get rid of the Three like you - "
" - everything comes with a price, Jade. The price of getting rid of the Three, the changes doing so would bring, you are hardly ready for them."
"How do you know? I could be."
"This conversation is enough to tell me that you're not. When you are, come the day we both will know. For now, best we just lay here, and listen to that insufferable song again of the tenth time - "
" - eleventh time - "
"Pardon me. Eleventh time."
"......I'm really miserable here, Damon."
"I know, Jade, I know."
Silence.