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(after Dritta's kidnapping..)

[02-04 20:46:57] <Cpt_Driver> some time in private:

[02-04 20:47:02] <Cpt_Driver> "It could have been you."

[02-04 20:47:21] * Cpt_Driver looks absolutely defeated saying that.

[02-04 20:47:45] <Cpt_Driver> "It could have been you. He could have walked up and done whatever he wanted, and I couldn't have stopped him."

[02-04 20:48:12] <Viollca> "No, Paul, I suppose you couldn't."

[02-04 20:48:27] <Viollca> "And you know what, Paul? I wouldn't have loved you any less."

[02-04 20:48:44] <Cpt_Driver> "If it weren't for the fact that I did, in fact, put one of them down--"

[02-04 20:48:52] * Cpt_Driver sighs.

[02-04 20:50:04] <Viollca> "Paul, come here."

[02-04 20:50:15] * Cpt_Driver does

[02-04 20:50:45] <Viollca> (one sec)

[02-04 20:51:54] <Viollca> "Wanting to love, wanting to save, its as important as the act..."

[02-04 20:52:31] <Cpt_Driver> "I tried to get him to take my bait...I don't know what I could have done but anything would have been better than being frozen..."

[02-04 20:53:11] <Viollca> "It was a Gift Paul. Little pieces of Gods, scattered about the world."

[02-04 20:53:21] * Cpt_Driver nods.

[02-04 20:53:43] <Cpt_Driver> "I didn't bargain with him. I could have tried..."

[02-04 20:54:11] <Cpt_Driver> "But I can't offer him my life. See, that's the damnable part of this. If I do, I'm abandoning my post."

[02-04 20:54:21] <Viollca> "You did everything, and you've never stopped."

[02-04 20:54:31] <Cpt_Driver> "I could and would offer him my life for you or Sir Matrim, but I couldn't for the girl."

[02-04 20:54:43] <Viollca> she looks at you in shock. "Paul!"

[02-04 20:55:32] <Viollca> she doesn't seem to know what to say

[02-04 20:56:22] <Viollca> "I need you, Paul. I love you. I would die without you, I think, I've never,"

[02-04 20:57:36] <Viollca> shw sqeezes a tear out of her eye. "I'm so tired of crying!"

[02-04 20:57:46] * Cpt_Driver hugs her.

[02-04 20:57:58] <Cpt_Driver> "And I'm tired of watching people I'm supposed to protect be massacred."

[02-04 20:58:10] <Viollca> she hugs back, even stronger.

[02-04 20:58:28] <Viollca> starts blubbering more in earnest.

[02-04 20:58:58] * Cpt_Driver hugs her for a while longer. "A hill does not become a mountain overnight."

[02-04 20:59:51] <Viollca> "You're already a mountain Paul. You always have been. You always will be. You just don't see it yet."

[02-04 21:00:18] <Viollca> "My mountain, my strength,"

[02-04 21:00:27] <Viollca> she looks up with puffy eyes

[02-04 21:00:51] * Cpt_Driver smiles. "I love you."

[02-04 21:01:47] <Viollca> "I couldn't stop loving you if I tried."

[02-04 21:02:01] * Cpt_Driver relaxes, finally.

[02-04 21:03:39] <Viollca> "Stay with me, tonight."

[02-04 21:04:15] <Cpt_Driver> "I will. If you don't mind me getting real quiet shortly after you fall asleep. I actually had something in mind when I said what I said about mountains and hills."

[02-04 21:04:22] <Cpt_Driver> "Remember my story about Mountain of Pain?"

[02-04 21:04:32] <Viollca> "I do"

[02-04 21:04:52] <Cpt_Driver> "I'm gonna see if I can't follow in his tracks a bit. maybe toughen my mind up a little."

[02-04 21:05:55] * Viollca swallows. "If I can help, I want to."

[02-04 21:06:20] <Cpt_Driver> "Well, I can't think of anything, but I'd rather just keep you company while you're awake."

[02-04 21:06:50] <Viollca> "I would ask Odelia, but I think the spells hurt them... She never complains. I wish you could talk to her."

[02-04 21:06:59] <Viollca> "Thank you."

[02-04 21:07:24] <Viollca> she nestles against you a bit.

[02-04 21:07:43] * Cpt_Driver would put an arm around her.

[02-04 21:08:31] <Viollca> "Before bed, let's ask Odelia if she can help. She left when we were beginning to talk..."

[02-04 21:09:00] <Viollca> "But when I dream, and suffer, she taught me how to take the pain away, some,"

[02-04 21:09:11] <Cpt_Driver> "Really?"

[02-04 21:09:49] * Viollca nods. "If anyone knows how to harden a mind, it's her."

[02-04 21:10:40] <Cpt_Driver> "Well...I mean, her effect would be pretty temporary, wouldn't it?"

[02-04 21:10:58] <Cpt_Driver> "Not to disparage her or anything..."

[02-04 21:12:08] <Viollca> "Not her effect, in life she could weave through minds. She knows them better, she could help."

[02-04 21:12:44] <Cpt_Driver> "Maybe she could."