Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-29559990-20150109200212/@comment-12599067-20150123021958

Talnarach was quiet for a long, long time, still gazing out at Sibbi from behind the utterly and completely emotionless mask. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Talnarach let out a somewhat muffled sigh, as if sad or disheartened.

"Is there no end to innocence?" Talnarach asked, sounding as if Sibbi's words wounded him in some way. "Perhaps I did not know your mother as well as you, but I do know a good deal about family, Bishop. And I know of ambition, too. Perhaps your mother was the monster you-- and everyone else-- paints her as. Or perhaps she was driven by such a great, compelling desire for success, for acheivement, only so that your family could live your lives to the fullest."

"In a way, she reminds me of somebody in my own family. My little brother was kind of like her. He was certainly driven. Passionate, too. He was prone to a quick temper and bouts of cold, harsh anger... but even when others disapproved of his actions, of his reckless abandon and determination, I knew him well enough to know that he was usually doing it for the better reasons, even if that meant he wasn't walking the high road, so to speak. I know some used to call him the 'little lion'. Perhaps they meant it for his claws and temper, but I always liked to think they were referring to his heart; for he could be as brave and loving as he was short-tempered and sullen. I miss him."

"Tell me, Bishop. You may not regret your actions now, but will that still ring true in ten winters' time? Twenty?" Talnarach asked. "She did care for you, even if it were more in a physical way than an emotional way. And she was family. And family is something that never really dies."