Drunken Ramblings

[Morgan]

Morgan couldn't help cracking up at that. "What do you mean him doing you was part of his job? You're not telling me you're on the blue screen, are you? You know, tres x? Or, no, wait, with your sweats and all that, are you some kind of yogi? Were you preparing to teach some kama sutra classes or something?"

Morgan had definitely drunk too much not to giggle like a tattoed little imp at the thought, but she managed, with many a contorted smile to calm down after a while.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm not trying to make fun of you," she explained, gesturing with her drink. "It's these drinks. But, anways, um, hang on a second. Protecting people and stuff. Living up to your word, and all that. S'pretty much the cornerstone of all the great movements and religions, for sure. You know, like anarchy and satanism."

[Phoenyx]

Phoenyx flushes bright red, her dark eyes round circles of horror. "What? No! I.... That's...." she looks thoroughly freaked out until Morgan explains the joke. "It's normal to want to those kind of things," Phoenyx scowls, still blushing. Because Obrimos Pride was a real Thing. "It's a part of being together... isn't it?" If he's happy to get sexy times one day and the next just clams up... that's not normal, right?

"Wait, what?" Anarchy? Satanism? The Arrow cocks her head, going slightly glassy-eyed. "What do you mean? It's not a political or religious thing. Just some things you do.'t's important." She props her head on her arm again, and suck on the straws. "Isn't Satanism alll about earthly pleasures? And anarchy about chaos? 't's'not that. 't's just being honest. Those things don't help. Not for long, anyway."

[Morgan]

"Okay, well, French existentialists totally agree with you that a relationship is like a job, and therefore, yes, doing you would be one of the duties of that job. Or, tasks required of the project, to be more accurate. Kinda wish it was the yogi option, though," Morgan commented idly, swirling the ice in her drink around with a straw.

"And politics isn't about talking heads, it's about power, Alice, didn't you pay any attention in wonderland?"

Morgan couldn't help but giggle for a moment at her own joke before continuing.

"Anyways, here's what I mean. Anarchy is the political philosophy that there should be no stratification of power. No archy, get it? Total equality. Total freedom. And, in that state of being, what else do we have besides our word? Which, of course, brings me back to Satanism. Satan, or in Hebrew (loosely), that which opposes. And what did Satan oppose? A tyranical godhead enforcing all kinds of bullshit on its creations. So Satan was like, yo, fuck that, I only fucks with freedom, bro. 'Cause, ya know, the original founder was the academic equivalent of a dudebro. Anyways, that founder, Anton LaVey, was a little bit of an assnozzle, think Ayn Rand style, but others have taken up the pen and revised his shitty philosophies.

"Soooooo, that brings us to today, with The Satanic Temple. All about radical freedom, but where Anton Assnozzle took that to the supremacist conclusion, the Temple regards it as the opposite, a literal do unto others as you would do unto yourself. After all, if oppression exists, it exists for everyone. Thus, oppression must be resisted, freedom and equality must be fought for by all, for all. And keeping your word would be pretty important in upholding that philosophy, no? After all, if I break my word, then not only am I failing to actualize myself, but I'm interfering with you and your actualization, and thus I would be an assnozzle, and not a Satanist."

Morgan took a loud, slurping sip of her drink, draining it down to the rocks, and then put the empty glass back on the table.

"Did it work? Are you converted?"

[Phoenyx]

Phoenyx shakes her head slowly. "That makes no sense. People aren't equal. And just because keeping your word is fundamental to a philosophy that doesn't mean I subscribe to it. Maybe I just do it because life would be so much better if everybody did it. Simpler."

She continues leaning on one hand. "So, no. 'M not converted to Satanism. I believe more in people. People can to great things if they try. They can do shitty things too, but people can change the world. If they're smart they can find ways of changing for the better and doing... stuff. But if you act as you say than people can trust that you will do things you say. And people are dicks which makes them hard to trust. But if you always do what you'll say you'll do then they can belive that you'll do that...." She looks a bit confused by her own statement. "Or something."

[Morgan]

"The fuck do you mean people aren't equal?" Morgan snapped back, the alcohol doing a great job of adding fuel to the fire that her tongue always liked to spark. Thankfully, the fact that she liked Alice, or at least had up to this point, helped her shut the fuck up long enough for the other (admittedly drunk) woman to explain.

"Lemme stop you right there, ok. With the exception of a few human monsters, no one is born a dick. It's this fucking society that we live in that produces the people you're calling dicks. Like, do think if there wasn't such inequality and injustice that people might not become so warped? If you shared the same circumstances as those people, you might have become a dick, too."

[Phoenyx]

Oooh, that touched a nerve. Phoenyx looks serenely at Morgan. "Nope. You can't solely blame society. Yes, there's inequality and injustice. And it's shit. But there are good people that emerge from under it all and there are bastards that experienced none of it." She sniggers. "Maybe I am a dick. Maybe I have to be. Maybe I just like fighting or arguing. Maybe I just wanna bitch about the crappy people in world for a bit, it that's okay with you?" The Arrow tries to raise an eyebrow, but then just starts giggling.

Yeah, someone's pretty drunk.

[Morgan]

Ironically, if Morgan hadn't been a little drunk, had a little of that good chemical mood humming through her bloodstream (damaging internal organs and killing brain cells while it was at it), she would have reacted completely differently. She probably would have started throwing ice cubes at the other woman (since, you know, her drink was empty).

But, she was a little drunk. A little preoccupied that she down to the watery dregs, a little preoccupied with how her thoughts kept shifting, and so her understanding of Alice's words was quite a bit different than they would have been otherwise. Besides, that feel-good chemical barrier was helping soften her usual reactions to discussions like this.


"Alright," Morgan laughed, "let's bitch about all the shitty people. Mk. How about my third foster mom? Collected checks for five kids but never cooked a damn thing. Or fourth foster family, who were straight up racist and didn't mean giving five finger reminders if you forgot one of the house rules. Or, nah, scrap that, let's take the seventh. Seventh was like, a legit motivational speaking duo. Involved in the church. All that shit. Everyone thought they were so fucking amazing, but they were just psychological terrorists. That's where I first learned about illusory superiority. You ever known anyone like that?"

[Phoenyx]

The Arrow's smile fades as Morgan keeps speaking. By the end she's staring at her glass. "...Yes," she says quietly. "I know people like that." Psychological terrorism was always a factor in an underground war. Illusory superiority was the trademark of the Lie. She sucks on the straws on the ice water at the bottom of the glass. "And that wasn't fair. But can you know for sure it was society that made them like that? Or was it just what they were like? And, more important, did a good person come out of all that, despite living in a shitty society?" For such heavy questions, they are delivered with an unfocused air, as if Phoenyx is only vaguely present.

[Morgan]

"And that wasn't fair."

Now that was funny. Legitimately funny. Like, Morgan had a hard time breathing because she was laughing so hard, funny. It could almost have been described as a mad cackle, if not for the fact that it wasn't particularly loud, even if it was rib shaking, diaphragm straining funny.

"Ok, ok, maybe I'm guilty of a little emotional terrorism myself," Morgan finally managed, but hey, I did learn from the best."

Which set her off again. She honestly wouldn't have been surprised if Alice walked out on her then, but goddamn, she just couldn't help herself. And it felt so damn good to laugh like this. It was almost worth it, a laugh like this, a laugh she couldn't even remember the last time she'd felt its like, even if it might mean Alice walked out the door.

But, eventually, she calmed down, slurping at the dregs of her drink to sooth her throat, and focused on Alice again, assuming she hadn't left.

"Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. But, uh, yeah, I don't think you could say that a good person came out of that situation. Well, not me, anyways. I'm pretty sure you'd consider me one of those shitty people if I told you the worst thing I ever did. Though, now I'm curious, what about you? What's the shittiest thing you've ever done?"

[Phoenyx]

The Arrow stared blankly, dumbstruck, at what seems to her to be hysterical laughter. "....What?"

Was Morgan lying? Or just found everything funny? Phoenyx had never been able to read people. But something about this, the warm feeling of alcohol and the laughter, made the feeling contagious, Phoenyx starts laughing a little as well.

But then things took a strange turn. "The... worst thing I ever did?" Phonyx says slowly. There were a lot of thngs she'd done that a person like Morgan might consider "bad". By mortal law, B&E, theft, murder... But they were all in the realm of things she had done to protect the Awakened and Sleepers. They were necessary.

"Um... what do you mean?" She asked, buying for time. Lying was not a strong suite.