--Previous Message-- : Bubbles watched Zeo closely and knew she had to : respond. : "Zeo, I believe you have totally : misunderstood the precept of Judge not : lest ye be judged. That is an injunction : against hypocrisy, not judging a person. : You are not supposed to be judgmental : against someone when you yourself are not : living by the precept you are judging that : person to have broken. The only way we : would be guilty of judging lest we be : judged is if we were going around : accosting and raping people ourselves. If : you are going to bring up that biblical : injunction then you know very well that : the bible is very clear that mankind *is* : to judge wrongdoers." She looked at : Zeo levelly and her calm gaze hardened a : bit. : "But know this. I will not let this man : get away with mere what Tommy has already : done to him. If we simply let him go then : the pain and suffering and perhaps the : blood of his future victims is on *our* : hands, for not stopping when we could : have." She looked back at the angry : and defiant man. "If nothing else I : will plant an injunction in his head. When : so ever he tries to harm another woman, or : even thinks about it, he will suffer : paroxysms of agony. And only by never : harming, or thinking of harming, women in : any way can he avoid the pain." Her : eyes were cold and hard. "But this, : at the very least, I will do."
Zeo nodded. Her Biblical grasp wasn't that great, despite her resolve to read up more so she could argue better with the preachers who came to her door. "You guys do what you want. I'll be over...there," she said, waving in a general direction far from the scene. Despite the lingering heat of the day, she still felt chilled through. When she felt she'd put enough distance between herself and the creeps, she clutched her Backpack tightly and slid down the wall, knees as close to her chest as she could manage, shaking with the events of the past hour. Her hair fell around her shoulders and arms, acting as a sort of blanket. But still she shook, her teeth chattering with the chill she didn't think would ever go away.
"It was a near miss this time," she whispered. "But what if there's a next time? What happens then? Oh god, what happens then?"
She buried her face in the comforting familiarity of the Backpack, inhaling deeply. If she strained, she could still catch the scents of OtakuWord: Diet Coke, okonomiyaki, ramen, Pixie Stix, and a faint twinge of Jawa. "Why was I pulled to this world?" she wondered. "It's not like I have any magic or anything. So far, I've carried bagpipes, shot at Diana, got separated from the group and nearly got raped and/or killed!" She dug in the bag and pulled out another familiar comfort: the kawaii blue-mohawked, trenchcoat-wearing plushie that was her lone souvenier of the Wars! She cuddled it close, her eyes on the brink of glazing over as she sat, rocking, her back to the stone wall.
((sorry guys. I'm in a fairly maudlin mood, so I'm gonna go get some sleep, and maybe Zeo'll be back to her perky self in the morning))
