<Pose Tracker> Talia has posed.

Talia never really thought of it that way before, but she also never had much cause to consider the real nature of Malevolence. It was a vague problem to her; it was someone else's problem. When she encountered it, before, it was in the form of something attempting to kill her. That afforded Talia a certain clarity of mind and action. Inconsistencies, on the other hand, are complicated.

She glances sideways at Ivan. She is a little surprised at his self-assessment -- and then not. Ivan always had a habit of beating himself up. That this is no different... no, that isn't a surprise.

She looks back at Liath, then she nods her head with a little more understanding than before. Limited by her oaths, she said. Talia doubts they can get coaching, but they can at least get answers.

"I doubt I could," Talia admits. "Trying to live without emotion, trying to say I don't get worried about anything, that there isn't any of that... well, I've forced it when I have tried, no? I don't think I could /really/ do that."

She frowns. "Is that what it takes, though?"

<Pose Tracker> Ivan has posed.
Ivan is actually nodding vehemently as Liath mentions contradictions. He must have heard somewhere, in some tale or passing comment, that malevolence afflicts those who are somehow in conflict with themselves. Could Ragnell have been the one who said that...? At any rate, it's part of why he suspects he couldn't withstand it. No one has ever been more in conflict with Ivan than Ivan.

He looked more doubtful at the bit about love; that may take a bit more effort to accept. He still thinks about it in terms of good and bad, worthy and unworthy. By that token, having contradictions between who you are and who you want to be ought to make someone bad and unworthy. That seemed to track.

But a world without any emotion at all... ... it sounds quite bleak. Quite not-worth-having.

"When you put it like that, Malevolence sounds... unfair," he says. "Even if it's awful, it doesn't sound like a world without it would be worth making either."

<Pose Tracker> Seraph Liath has posed.

''I don't think I could /really/ do that.''

''Even if it's awful, it doesn't sound like a world without it would be worth making either.''

Liath smiles.

It is a painfully genuine thing; it makes her features practically shine. It's such a subtle thing, yet one that stands out for the raw sincerity of it, full of approval.

Because it is full of a simple, pure, love.

"No -- it would not be."

Pushing her plate of dessert forward across the table, that sentiment still lingers in the Seraph's expression as she continues on, voice earnest, warm. "Humans feel things so strongly. You are imperfect and flawed things. You kill each other under arbitrary claims of difference. Seraphim are no better, to tell the truth, cloistering ourselves from your troubles, turning a blind eye... but I have never been able to. Because you are all full of such beauty, too. You are wonderful. You are selfless. You feel so strongly for the things in your lives you care for. Each of you, full of boundless potential.

"In killing emotion, you might undo the blight of Malevolence. But you would kill your hearts. It would not be a world worth living in, because it would not be living at all."

She falls silent for a moment; her features turn towards the apologetic for the rambling, but the Seraph carries on regardless.

"Talia, Ivan -- your contradictions, your passions, are what give rise to Malevolence. But you must remember there is two sides to every coin. Often, our weaknesses are just a strength, turned on its head. And the very things that are so susceptible to Malevolence, are also the things strongest against it.

"Look within yourselves. Know yourselves. Live true to yourselves. That is how you face Malevolence. With eyes forward, unblinking. It is only when you flinch that poison begins to seep through the cracks."