The smile becomes a little less forced and a little more definable as a 'smile', but it only grows even more pained. The words all ring a little too true to home. And they ring far too true to when he was approached with the offer of Ascension the first time, how Daniel couldn't imagine why anyone would think he could be worthy for something like that.
He falls silent, lets the two of them wrestle their existential demons for a moment. He's gathered that they're both of them people who have built themselves around who they can help, what civilizations they can save. Peaceful, largely, and trying to build peace in galaxies where that was simply not in their nature. And when the galaxy or universe at large are to blame for things like that, it's only too easy to take all the guilt and possess it into themselves, internalize it, feel responsible for what they may not have been able to prevent either way, and steep themselves in self-blame because it only seems fair.
"We muddle our way through," he says finally, looking down at Aliyah as he strokes her, softly, requires something to do with his hands to grind away the knotted anxiety. "And if there's...anything I do remember from when I was Ascended, it's that we can't judge ourselves on a criteria of success versus failure. If we judge ourselves at all, we do it by the strength of our conviction and, and how we chose to face the things we couldn't possibly win against every time, regardless of whether or not we failed."
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He falls silent, lets the two of them wrestle their existential demons for a moment. He's gathered that they're both of them people who have built themselves around who they can help, what civilizations they can save. Peaceful, largely, and trying to build peace in galaxies where that was simply not in their nature. And when the galaxy or universe at large are to blame for things like that, it's only too easy to take all the guilt and possess it into themselves, internalize it, feel responsible for what they may not have been able to prevent either way, and steep themselves in self-blame because it only seems fair.
"We muddle our way through," he says finally, looking down at Aliyah as he strokes her, softly, requires something to do with his hands to grind away the knotted anxiety. "And if there's...anything I do remember from when I was Ascended, it's that we can't judge ourselves on a criteria of success versus failure. If we judge ourselves at all, we do it by the strength of our conviction and, and how we chose to face the things we couldn't possibly win against every time, regardless of whether or not we failed."