Loretta's expression didn't change a single bit as Emma belted out her defensive comments. Loretta replied, nowhere near as violently as Emma but with just as much, if not more confidence, "<span style="color: purple">She had the choice to stick with her mother and <i>not</i> get so loaded up on a mix of drugs and desperation that she had to eat other people, Emma.</span>"<br/><br/>Her eyes narrowed at Emma. "<span style="color: purple">I could have done the same damn thing when I watched everyone I knew either be shot, set on fire or melt into paste, right in front of me. Both of my parents, every last sibling, and all of my friends, gone. Yeah, I got pretty fucked over by that whole thing, but I didn't go and run off, blinded by a pair of balls that being young gives you. I learned. I fucking <i>learned</i>.</span>"<br/><br/>She leaned forward a little ways towards Emma as she said, "<span style="color: purple">Seeing all the other Wastelanders fuck themselves up and wither away like a starved cactus told me that it does nobody any good, except that they make everything easier when they're dead for everyone who hasn't fried themselves to death. All she did was get more and more fucked up as time passed, until she finally went as low as anybody could go. And it's <i>her</i> fault.</span>" Though she still refrained from being as rambunctious as Emma, it was evident that Loretta was slowly getting more and more agitated by how she seemed to swell up a bit with each and every sentence.<br/><br/>"<span style="color: purple">Yeah, I guess she could be getting herself fixed, I'll give her that. But she wouldn't have been going through this shit in the first place if she hadn't been so damn stupid from the get-go.</span>"<br/><br/>When Fanya made her own reply to her words, Loretta seemed to calm down, just a little bit. Fanya had a point, there wasn't anything that could shame herself more than her... incident. She also gave herself a kick for bringing Jynx into it all; she had nothing to do with it, really. She turned part of the way to the wild one and muttered softly, "<span style="color: purple">Sorry about that. I'm not all that great with words in some cases.</span>" As small and insignificant it may have sounded, it was at least genuine.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>