She returned the gaze, her brow furrowed slightly. “Did you..” She hesitated before adjusting her questioning. “Do you like your father? I know you didn’t have a good relationship with your mother, but...”
He looked down at her, his expression unsure. "I don't know. I don't know how I'm supposed to feel. He was as bad as me, but he was also my father."
She nodded slowly, thinking about this. "Do you think you can love someone that you know is a bad person?"
"I think you can," she told him thoughtfully before laughing a little. "I think it's hard, but I think that loving someone who you know is bad is one of the most generous things you can do."
He looked down at her and met her gaze. "I believe you, sort of. I just.. I don't quite understand how it's generous."
She considered this, squeezing his arm. "I think... I think we want to be good, you know? I think that goodness is something we are inclined towards. So... when we love someone who gives out more negatives than positives, we feel like they're hurting themselves. That's a terrible thing to have to watch. But you do it anyway because despite everything, you think they're worthy of it." She frowned, tilting her head. "I don't know if that makes sense."
"They're worthy of love. That's no small thing, you know?" She shrugged, looking out on the horizon as the sun hung in the sky. "That's dedication. It's a selfless thing to give someone love even when you know that they don't make good choices."
She laughed a little, shaking her head. "It's not anything worthy of being explained," she said. "It's just what I think. It's not anything real."
"I think a good person is someone who doesn't do harm to other people, and wants other people to succeed with them," he said. "I haven't really thought much on the idea. I don't know where I would place."
