In the ruins

[itbelongsinamuseum]

[After the battle in the Iraqi desert as the bodies had been cleaned up, Alex could be found walking around the dig site. Stopping to look at newly broken statues or just around where the battle had been. It wasn't really a very big site all told, but did that really matter?]

It's weird. This place has been lying quietly for millennia and war returned to it like this...At least it didn't turn into a full-blown massacre.

Comments

[caressthedarkness]

...Is it truly freedom that means that much to them?

I...do not understand...

[For people to bring this up into an already tense series of conflicts, it definitely confuses her.]

[itbelongsinamuseum]

No, it is pride and some inane idea that small variations in language and how you decorate for Christmas makes it impossible for people to live together.

[caressthedarkness]

The best I could have managed...would have been to ask them to wait until there is an opportunity to discuss this...

But when there are innocent lives involved, there is no 'wait'...the more time is wasted, the higher the chances that a defenseless person will...

[itbelongsinamuseum]

Yeah. And it's not like they would be willing to change their minds. They've got to have spent a lot of time convincing themselves that what they're doing is the right thing.

[caressthedarkness]

I do wonder about that...

...I may be thinking too much about it, but...no one has called me a monster in a while...

[itbelongsinamuseum]

You might not be human, but you're one of the least monstrous people I can think of.

If I hadn't seen you fight, I'd have a hard time imagining that you could hurt anybody.

[caressthedarkness]

I...

...I appreciate that.

[itbelongsinamuseum]

You're welcome.