““The best.” The Countess finished her tea and put down her cup, “Well. I don’t wish to invade your privacy. But do remember, you’re allowed to ask for help. It’s part of what families are all about.” “I owe you too much already, milady.” Her smile tilted. “Mark, you don’t pay back your parents. You can’t. The debt you owe them gets collected by your children, who hand it down in turn. It’s a sort of entailment. Or if you don’t have children of the body, it’s left as a debt to your common humanity. Or to your God, if you possess or are possessed by one.” “I’m not sure that seems fair.” “The family economy evades calculation in the gross planetary product. It’s the only deal I know where, when you give more than you get, you aren’t bankrupted—but rather, vastly enriched.””
— Lois McMaster Bujold, Miles in Love
And if the people who made you are _bad_…
Well, you pay them back another way, don’t you, Mark.
You fucking _live_.
cucumber-s
