Re: May's Cottage: May L / Gwen R
"It's not faith. Science and honest data doesn't require faith, ma'am. If it does, then it isn't science." But Gwen listened to everything the woman said about her own youth, and she was quiet and intense seafoam as she tried to comprehend what the woman was explaining. Time periods were markedly different from one another, and it wasn't good sociology to judge people across time periods and eras. That would always result in faulty data, and Gwen could accept that this woman had been raised during a time when magic was believed readily. It also explained the comment about science and confidence and faith. Gwen felt that (currently) the woman sitting across from her made more sense. She nodded her agreement, and it wasn't begrudging at all.
She wasn't expecting the woman to ask her about evil. She tried to remember if anyone had ever asked her about that particular word before, but she was sure no one ever had. She sat forward a little, and she turned her cup a little faster (a visual indicator that her interest in the conversation had just risen). "No one's ever asked me about evil, ma'am. I think there are many as yet unexplained things in the world, and some of those things might be evil, using the general explanation for the word. I think it's more likely that evil is a concept created by society to define what the majority can agree is undesirable. There is a lot of variation on what people consider okay, but there are certain things that most people and cultures can agree is wrong, and those things and people are labeled as evil."