The prompt used: a punishment deserved.
The vandals were scrubbing the graffiti they had magicked on the walls — with only soap and water, of course, no magic. They had made the graffiti be hard to remove with the means of the common folk and now they could reap what they had sown. That ought to instill some empathy into this gang of troublemakers. If not… at least they had to waste their time doing this, so perhaps they would do something that was easier to clean or fix to avoid doing this again.
It was always good to hope that a punishment deserved would actually teach troublemakers both young and old not to do that again.
Sure, with the number of old troublemakers around, some of that hope was in vain, but perhaps these kids would learn better. Perhaps they would be better than their elders.
The very best thing would be if these graffiti gangsters turned their artistic energy into a more productive medium. I mean, I don’t like the graffiti any more than the people who complained about it, but you can’t deny that these kids have talent both in visual art and magic. They could use it and their time so much better than this.
I guess I just can’t understand the allure of doing stuff like this. I wish I could, though; it could help me get through to these troublemakers’ skulls and find a common area where we work together instead of fighting against each other like we’re currently doing.
I should probably try talking with these kids about it first. Maybe they could shed some light on it.
Here’s to hoping that they’d actually be willing to talk with me.
WindySilver 