A flame to guide the way (open log)

[strength_of_will]

Who: William and anyone
Where: The Church of Many Faiths/near the forest close to Aldrip for firewood
What: William offering shelter from the cold
Warnings: None

If you need shelter, please feel free to come by the church. There are blankets and bedding in the communal area.

And to our newcomers: if you would like a place to make offerings to your god or gods, you're welcome to make a small shrine or something here. I would like this church to be somewhere we can freely share our faiths.

William spends most of the blackout in the church he has taken care of since late last year. It's a humble place, as one would expect, made cosy by the light of a few candles during this bleak blackout. In the aforementioned communal space, he has taken the trouble to create small firepits for people to gather around and huddle by or sleep near. Food is a little more difficult as he doesn't have the capital he does back home. However, he tries to at least offer some kind of soup - simple to make and easy to portion out to a large number of people. Donations are always welcome.

When not at the church, William can be found outside gathering wood for fire. He doesn't seem to care if the wood he picks up is wet or iced over.

Comments

[entreats]

It might just be the singular time their opinions on this sort of thing overlap. Because Ange isn't offended by his answer at all - she also thinks it's horrible. The witch she's talking about sucks, and Ange would be more than fine with it if someone gave her a taste of her own medicine.

Hence why doesn't comment on that. She just silently agrees. But then William moves on to a question that is obvious, yet one that Ange hadn't quite seen coming all the same, despite what she just said. It makes her pause with surprise for a moment, but then she nods.

"That's right. I guess I'm just different from them since I only became a witch very recently. I feel more like a human than I feel like a witch, honestly."

Not that some humans don't think killing other people is hilarious and fun as well, but.. Ange likes to think she's at least not like that. Not even with the emotionless front she tries to put on a lot of the time.

[strength_of_will]

The way she says that seems odd.

"Do you mean that most witches become witches really young? Or that they somehow...lose their empathy?"

He wonders if this is why she seems to deadpan all the time. Does becoming a witch change a person?

[entreats]

"The latter, I think."

Not that she knows whether the other witches really were human before.. But some of them seem to speak as if they were, once upon a time. Definitely very, very long ago.

"I have no idea how it happens though. Maybe it's just what happens when you grow way older than any person is meant to be. It could be that everything else starts to look insignificant at that age." Judging by her tone though, it sounds more like speculation than like anything Ange knows for sure.

She pauses for a second, and then adds a touch more slowly: "Not that I'm planning on becoming like that."

So apparently the girl doesn't seem the deadpan and relative emotionlessness as anything special or related to it, since she isn't bothering to bring it up.. Or maybe she doesn't notice it herself?

[strength_of_will]

The look he gives her then is deeply empathetic. Even if there's no clear explanation for why witches in her world become the way they do, he thinks it's at least clear that it's beginning to affect her. Maybe she won't ever become someone who enjoys harming others (he hopes not), but will that only last until her apathy wins out? It's easy to justify morally questionable acts when you don't care about the outcome.

"I hope you can remember that," he says gently. "You still have a long life ahead of you. Make sure you surround yourself with people who care about you and can remind you about who you are."