>>1814>Smiling, in a rare show of emotion, Magister then looks down at his spectacles as he begins to clean them."Something like that."
>As he cleans the spectacles, he then changes his expression to that of a neutral tone of voice."I nearly beat Jack Blackburn to death in my universe - because he did far,
far worse things."
>Still cleaning his spectacles, he continues speaking."I almost killed him - and there was only
one person who stopped me. Who pulled me back from the brink - and told me to let go of my anger."
>Blowing away the remaining specs of dust from his spectacles - he then says:"It was you."
>Now looking back at Stephanie, Magister then states:"You were my anchor. The one keeping me held together. I was just another rebellious punk and wannabe tough guy - before I met
you."
>Looking up at the ceiling, he then says:"…..
Both of you. Since I met the Stephanie you're more familiar with during the early stages of my training - nearly a decade ago."
>Still staring at the ceiling of the Axiom, Magister continues:"Lisa can say that she did the "real" work of making me a man - and maybe she did. But I never
felt anything with her. I
felt nothing for her."
>He takes a moment to pause - staring at the alternate universe counterpart of his wife with a solemn expression, before continuing."But I felt
everything in the world for
you. I stopped getting into fights because of
you. I started mending my familial relationships because of
you. Hell, I even changed my outlook on life because of
you."
>Making a finger pointing gesture to the side of the area, he then further elaborates:"And
he's going through that same inflection point -
right now. He's only changing because of the woman he's starting to fall in love with - as well as the other woman who has his heart."
>Magister then kicks himself up from the wall and begins walking over to Stephanie - while still speaking."Like a man after my own heart - he's starting to remember what it means to be human. He lost that a long time ago, but now he's starting to find it again."
>As he then takes a seat across the table from Stephanie, he sits down and leans backward himself. While doing so, he then concludes by stating:"We're not perfect. We make mistakes. Sometimes horrible ones at that. But it's never a question of how many times we're knocked down, isn't it?"
>Putting his spectacles back on, he then finalizes his oration by saying:"Only a question of how many times we're willing to pick ourselves back up."
>Looking at Stephanie one more time - his gaze piercing through his spectacles with a glare that he can feel."I fell in love with you the moment you chose to pull me out of the abyss. I can never repay you enough for that - but that's why I married you."
>Magister then takes out his Tome of Thoth, and begins reading through it casually - as the room falls to silence once again.