sixwordstories | (no subject)

Well, they are lovely...of course I've only met your son, but I'm sure your wife's wonderful to.

They are the greatest ... I shudder to think of the kind of person I'd be without them.

You don't give yourself enough credit, Harry.

Maybe, but you haven't seen me at my worst.

No, that I haven't. I have, however, seen enough people at their worse to be able to tell the difference between those who are genuinely cruel and those who are just righteously angry.

A family...I envy you greatly, friend.

::Dresden can help but smile as the stranger's compliment hangs in the air between them::

If you knew them, you might envy me that much more.

::He spends a moment pondering his next words::

I spent a long enough time without one to realize how lucky I am now.

I may well have spent nearly as much time without one as you have.
But I have not been so blessed since then.
The cavern is my home, and its people, the only family I may ever know.

::He turns the strangers words over in his mind::

Does something bind you to the cave or do you stay because you are compelled?

...Are those things not one and the same?

I think not. You could be bound to a place by forces seen or unseen and unable to leave.

Or you could be compelled to stay on your own ...

Very well. I stay of my own accord. I felt inexplicably drawn toward it when I first arrived. Now it's become more a home to me than any place I ever had on the surface.

I don't think I could live that way.

How large is the community you live with?

Enormous. A world in and of itself. To say nothing of all the other worlds we've been given access to.

I hate traveling. Chicago is one of only two or three places that's ever felt like home to me. I always hate having to leave.

You are a man of some supernatural resources. Have you ever vanished from one world, and after mere seconds of darkness, materialized in another world an immeasurable distance away? The travel back home is an equally brief trip. Would you be so hateful of travelling if you had my means?

I have no means of ... teleportation and the only world I can travel to in seconds is the nevernever, which actually isn't really much of another world at all. It's just the place in this world were magic and supernatural beings tend to reside. Trips there often result in grave peril for me, so its a safe bet that I hate traveling there.

... but if I had the means to transport to any place in seconds, I would probably continue to dislike traveling. My hometown gives me a sense of comfort.

As you say.

I sometimes wish I had such personal attachment and sentimentality as you've come to have. Though I really cannot allow myself to regret who I am now.

No matter. May you not be required to travel too much anytime soon.