Harrowheart shakes his head. "Someone else's choice, right..." Even if he's only repeating her, it's an itchy, nasty lie of the highest caliber.
"I don't like hurtin' people," he starts, and the pause is just long enough for that to feel like a lie to. "...Until I get to doin' it. Then I like it a lot. And then it's over, and I start feelin' guilty. I'd give it up, but I can't. A knight's price for free will is that we have to hurt other people, or the urge to do it drives us wild. Some freedom, huh?"
He scrubs at his face with his hands. Muffledly he groans, "I got to talkin' with Shade-seeker and some old man on a bench, and they all started sayin' stuff about evil folks turnin' their life around no matter what they did, and I started believin' it, and... I don't know why I'm sayin' any of this. I guess as much as I wanna change, some part of me kinda wants you all to be wrong."
His hands lower just enough that he can look at Verity again. "Please don't tell Steve this stuff? He's always talkin' about how he hates violence, how he can't stand bullies. I don't think he'd take it too good to find out his buddy's an axe murderer."
The classic "I just met you, let me tell you everything" maneuver.
"I don't like hurtin' people," he starts, and the pause is just long enough for that to feel like a lie to. "...Until I get to doin' it. Then I like it a lot. And then it's over, and I start feelin' guilty. I'd give it up, but I can't. A knight's price for free will is that we have to hurt other people, or the urge to do it drives us wild. Some freedom, huh?"
He scrubs at his face with his hands. Muffledly he groans, "I got to talkin' with Shade-seeker and some old man on a bench, and they all started sayin' stuff about evil folks turnin' their life around no matter what they did, and I started believin' it, and... I don't know why I'm sayin' any of this. I guess as much as I wanna change, some part of me kinda wants you all to be wrong."
His hands lower just enough that he can look at Verity again. "Please don't tell Steve this stuff? He's always talkin' about how he hates violence, how he can't stand bullies. I don't think he'd take it too good to find out his buddy's an axe murderer."