IT R OK (325)
Tayui chuckled when Eris spoke. That was exactly what she had been saying all along! She shouldn't be someone else, anyone else, just because other wolves thought she should or even because she thought she should. There was nothing wrong with doing exactly what you wanted when you knew what it was you wanted. All Tayui had ever wanted her entire life was truth and knowledge. She wanted the power to know that when she made a decision, it was an informed decision based on the truths she had come to accept and treasure. She could understand why Eris wanted something similar, but couldn't understand why Eris thought wearing Salvaged's surname as her own gave her any knowledge. It was just another lie she had created to satisfy herself. It didn't mean she had taken a hold of her own destiny or even shaped it: just that she accepted someone else's definition of who or what she should be.
Eris emphasized that she had been lied to before and Tayui nodded in response. Tayui was curious what it had been that made her so bitter about it, but she didn't want to ask. It seemed too private and too personal, and Tayui didn't want to pry.
“But you don't have to live a new lie to make up for your old ones,” Tayui explained after a short pause. “If you want to be yourself and you want knowledge, you don't need to brand yourself like livestock. You can pass on the knowledge of your family without claiming to really belong to it. There's no reason you have to be anyone if you don't want to. Using Eternity as a name is a symbol of your own self-oppression. You can still remember without that constant reminder.” She didn't know if this even made sense, but somehow, it sounded right and true in her head. She didn't know if that was how it would sound to Eris.