Tree girl meets spear boy (Cherry clear and Retuo SL)

"Personally, I think it could always be even worse. We're still surviving. Had we been at a total rock bottom, we would probably not even be alive anymore." It was bad, but could it truly be called the rock bottom? Retuo was not certain about that, and considering the girl appeared to still have more than an ounce of hope and cheerfulness within her, the situation clearly wasn't bad enough to fully crush everyone's spirits yet. Unless she was just naive. He couldn't quite tell at the moment. "You're the type to believe that all people are inherently good then?" He wouldn't deny that some people would perhaps calm and be willing to cooperate, but crimes have always existed, have they not? Some people simply chose to do unpleasant things, and the reasons for said choices could be aplenty...not even related to the state of the world at large.

Letting out a faint snort, the tall man would shake his head a little. "Can you operate a boat?" If only it was as simple as finding a functioning boat and sailing somewhere. The idea was amusing perhaps, but ultimately unlikely to work for a random person. In any case, he would frown as she spoke on her mother there. Well, that was a difficult matter to approach for sure.


"That...is a pretty long time. Anything could have happened with that long having passed. If nobody seems to have seen her around on the outside, maybe she found a Vault to stay at? Can't really think of any other option, honestly." Except her being dead, but he didn't really want to propose that as the first go to. It'd be a little too tactless to do that.

"Hm". She let out a simple hum as a reply to his take. She didn't really agree with him. But she could understand his point of view, many people shared it these days. However she did have plenty of comments for his next question. "Not all people, but for most of them? Yes. I think almost every human is a good person at birth. It is the rare, truely evil people out there that are the one's who cause people to turn bad. And in these case those evil people are the demons!" She said with a nod. Her voice had no hint of doubt or worry at all. To her she wasn't simply speaking her option on the matter, no to the young woman this was a fact of life.

"Huh? A small blush that was unseeable due to the thick fog bult up in her cheeks as she stuttered out. "W-well, I, uh. No, but what is there to know? You just raise the sail and turn the wheel every once and awhile. And after enough time you'll find land!" Cherry said, sure that everything would go smoothly for her if she where to ever find a workable boat or ship. "The real problem would be stocking up on enough food and water to last the trip. Who knows how long it would take to get from france to another country?"

Cherry shook her head. "I doubt that. My mom always hated vaults. Told me to stay away from them, and to not trust anybody that came from a vault." Cherry never understood why her mother felt this way, and her mother never felt the need to answer that question. No matter the reason for her seemingly irrational fear towards the vaults, Cherry knew that she would never be caught dead there. "Anyways. Thank you for the help though, I will make sure to remember to check the rivers. And if you do ever see her, could you please do me a favour and tell her that Cherry is looking for her? And that I'll be at the fields of glass, under our favorite spot?"

Retuo would tilt his head slightly. "Ah...well I do agree with the fact that nobody is born evil. Babies don't exactly have the mental capacity to make such a choice yet. They're not exactly automatically good either though. Our choices are molded by the kinds of lives we lead. It could indeed be caused by other people, but could also be a product of a different kind of influence." He would huff. "I disagree with the statement that evil people are demons however. A human does not stop being a human just because they aren't being good. To say that being bad turns you into a demon is to absolve humanity of any responsibility for their choices and actions. Just because someone wants to be an 'asshole' so to speak, it does not mean they can excuse it away by saying it's someone else's fault or even demonic influence that caused them to decide to act that way. In rare cases it could be, but that is by no means the default." With the exception of truly being forced by demons in some way or form, it was ultimately the person who decided to act on their 'evil' thoughts and feelings. They didn't have to, but they did. So, a certain amount of responsibility for it fell on them. You don't just say 'nah, consequences don't apply to me specifically'.

"...or you could drown due to a storm you were not prepared to deal with, for example. I digress though." His tone held a hint of amusement there, so while he did find her thoughtlessness slightly worrisome, he wasn't mad about it either. He did have to wonder as to how she was making it out in these lands with such remarkably purehearted views on things though. Her claim about people from Vaults being untrustworthy was a strange one however. "Why is that so, I wonder...? The people living there aren't all that different." Besides, this would imply that she and her mother didn't even see eye to eye. The claim that all people were mostly good went against a belief that Vaulters specifically were somehow less worthy of trust. "You're welcome though...I will keep that in mind, in case I do happen to come across the person you seek." It wouldn't hurt him to do so after all.

"What other kind of influence could there be? I guess maybe animals, but I don't think they could raise a baby." She said, before going slient and listening to Retuo. She didn't speak for a little bit after his statement, as she gave it some time to sink in. Before she offered her option on it. "Not all evil people are demons, but if a human becomes evil enough then they are no better than demons. And then you would have to treat them the same way as demons. As for the people who get corrupted by demons, what they do isn'r right either. And I don't think that they should go unpunished. However if we get rid of the demons, the rate of bad and evil people should go down greatly. I guess that is what I am trying to say." Cherry said, still not giving up and not noticing the flaws and backtracking on her side of this little debate.

"W-well even if it did I would just swim the rest of the wa-" She cut herself off as she glanced down at her left arm and remembered that there was no way that she would be able to swim with that. "...........I'd find a way" She said, mostly trying to convice herself of that.

The young woman simply shrugged her shoulders "I don't really know. I'd always ask her, but she never answered me." Cherry loved her mother, but she would be the first to say that she and her did not agree on alot of things. Their morals being much different from one another. In fact her little agruements with her mother is how she can to form her counterclaims. Of course those where the only counterclaims she has came up with over the years. Seeing as if pushed enough she would normally just bail out of the conversation. "Thank you for that mister Retuo. That means alot to me. I should be going now, but I hope to see you again one day!" After the she waved goodbye to the man, before she turned around and began to walk off. The sound of scraping echoing out as she dragged her arm behind again. Off to check the rivers, and hopefully find more objects to collect.

[Exit]

Intriguing, really.

Retuo couldn't say he agreed with her, no, but he also didn't think she was entirely wrong on all the points. In the end, how one viewed a situation was heavily depended on their own beliefs. Was there any true right or wrong, or was it all just a matter of personal values and opinions? "Perhaps." He would chuckle faintly. "Though in my opinion, if you treat a person like a demon and don't try to understand their point of view, you most likely lose any chance you had to change their mind. Even demons act the way they do for a reason...maybe a more primitive one, but a reason borne of nature nevertheless." It was not a pleasant thing, but it was one of the facts of life too.

He would only offer her an amused hum at her feeble attempt to save face there, not seeing a need to push the conversation further at that point. Nor was there much for him to say beyond that either. "I see." Well, sometimes people did refuse to explain themselves. He knew as much. "Stay safe out there." He would give her a polite nod in return for the wave, staying in his spot for a while longer as he listened to the scraping sounds slowly fade away. Right. He probably ought to get a move on himself, if he wanted to get back on track with directions before too much time has passed....