PART ONE

[soulping]

[The lights dim and you are no longer in a classroom, but a low key bar. An older gentleman from behind the counter is looking at you as if waiting for your next order. La Torre's voice comes from nowhere in particular:]

Today I have a story for you. Have you ever heard of the Human Condition? It's a conceited study of what traits innately make a human being a human being. Some say it can be defined as humanity's capacity for good and for evil. If a person has an infinite capacity for good then, like a mirror image, they must have an infinite capacity for evil, right?

There was a man. He was sitting at a bar. He couldn't accept the reality of his world. It was his lot in life to wish for a different lot; he was a selfish, small man. He drank. He drank to forget. He drank to obfuscate his understanding. He drank so he didn't have to accept.

You are sitting at a bar. Why are you drinking?

Comments

Re: DISCUSSION

[grandstanding]

Right under your boot. Oh, but I'm sure that's not how you meant it.

[spins around and speaks at the corner where the supposed cactus is]

You heard him, right? 'Thanks but no thanks.' I suppose you'll just have to die alone now.

Re: DISCUSSION

[hungryman]

No... I didn't mean it that way. We're still friends, right? Don't leave me alone... come and take a seat here, I'll share my drink with you.

[To the cactus, of course.]

Re: DISCUSSION

[grandstanding]

[watches the cactus, dramatically, before turning to Snake]

Well, she just walked out the door. There's your answer.

Nice work.

Re: DISCUSSION

[hungryman]

Damn... I don't think I've ever been good with people, guess cactii are the same.

Re: DISCUSSION

[grandstanding]

You could try your luck with the giraffe-- [jerks a thumb over his shoulder at a coatrack] --but you don't seem to have any, so maybe not.

Re: DISCUSSION

[hungryman]

No.. not my type anyway.

Re: DISCUSSION

[grandstanding]

Too willing to talk back?

Re: DISCUSSION

[hungryman]

Too thin... feels like I'd break them.