voice;

[ideismo]

[There's a moment of quiet before he starts, the sort of thing that's only really audible if you're listening for it; it's been some time since Alexei has addressed any number of people at once, and while it's something he used to be accustomed to, it's also something that he's rather out of practice with.

So there's quiet, and the awkwardness is palpable when he does start, and he doesn't bother introducing himself; maybe some will recognize his voice, maybe not. It matters fairly little to him in the scheme of things.]

I don't normally request guidance, and particularly not regarding personal matters, so I pray I may be forgiven for the vagueness of the question. But I suppose that the recent conditions on Monsun have me contemplating things.

Is it...acceptable, I suppose, to continue to want something that you have no right or claim to anymore?

[...And apparently that is all for now.]

Comments

[devilstongue]

That sounds like the very creation of 'it depends'.

voice

[journalname]

[boy, that's a whole mood]

I do not know, but I can certainly understand the feeling.

[eudaimonikos]

You mean morally? Seems like it doesn't matter, if you aren't doing anything.

[thank you michael for the one decisive answer]

[ideismo]

Humor me and explain how so?

[ideismo]

[it is a whole-ass mood and he doesn't like it, honestly.]

...I suppose it's a complicated question, at the end of the day. The emotions that come with it equally so.

[ideismo]

...It's nothing I can do anything about, for what it's worth.

[devilstongue]

Of what it is, of course. There's a lot of things you can want that you cannot have. Objects, why not. People, less so. Emotions? Even more complicated.

Nobody has the right to anything in this world, but the circumstances are what tells the legitimacy of 'claiming' or the lack thereof.

[ideismo]

That's... No, that's fair. I can assure you that I'm not particularly interested in possessing people's affections, or anything like that. I'm largely disinterested in what others think of me; I always have been.

[Well. That's. Mostly true. Not entirely, but no one is ever entirely honest, in his experience.]

It's a specific circumstance, I suppose. An intangible endgoal that's out of my reach.

[devilstongue]

You never know. People can be so very different here.

[ That's an auditory shrug from Molly. ]

Well, if it's fully out of your reach and you don't feel you might have a claim any more, what is the point? Sure, it's acceptable to want things you can't have, but it's not going to help you.

[ideismo]

[That gets a soft noise, really. Not derisive, just kind of a placeholder.]

Perhaps not. But surely you know it wouldn't be a concern at all if it were something so easily let go of.

[eudaimonikos]

So there's no problem!

[ideismo]

Ethically speaking, I suppose there isn't.

[...]

Might I ask you a few things? Regarding the place you come from.

[eudaimonikos]

Sure.

[He hasn't been terribly secretive. He likes it better that way.]

[ideismo]

I'm sure you're aware that humans often imagine they'll be reunited with those they care about after they've died. Is there any truth in that, or is it simply a nice idea that we made up out of nothing?

[journalname]

Yes, I suppose it would be.

[That seems to be the way of it.]

I am available if you would like to talk about it. In person too, if you would prefer.

[ideismo]

[...Oh.

On the one hand, he really, really doesn't want to talk to Asgore about it - after all, as far as Asgore is concerned, he died saving the world, didn't he? With no regrets to his name because at least he did his goddamn best.

On the other...]

Out of everyone here, you're likely the one I would trust most with such things. If you would be receptive... Perhaps I wouldn't mind.

[Or, well. Perhaps he would mind less. Six of one, half-dozen of the other, as he goes.]

In person would likely be better. This feels a bit impersonal.

[journalname]

[it's fine, Asgore's apparently just the Douchebag Whisperer]

It is rather public, as well. [He. Does not know how to make these private.] I am happy to meet you whenever you like - I am not busy. Or, if you would like to come over for some tea, that is fine as well.

[eudaimonikos]

I can't speak for your world. But no, that's not generally true.

[He's sure there's been odd cases over the years: maybe people a thousand years ago managing to get into Heaven in twos or threes, or maybe just demons who had the bright idea to use a loved one's torture as a torture in itself. But you only have to look at the reception he got to see that ideas like that are frowned upon. It's the paperwork, mostly, so inefficient to run around locating individual humans.

Knowing what he knows now, he doubts anyone above is faring any better.]

[ideismo]

...I would like that. Tea would be nice.

[He's so awkward but there's an attempt being made.]

Thank you. For offering.

[ideismo]

[Even if it's only relevant to a world not his own, he can't help but find that a relief.]

I actually don't know how it works in my world. I couldn't even begin to guess...

[...]

One of my... [He pauses for a moment; he's not really sure how to classify Schwann, even now.] One of my subordinates was a bit strange about the entire business. He would often wander around speaking to people that weren't with us any longer. It was unsettling at best.

I doubt that was anything real; I find it far more likely that he was just a bit strange in the head after the war.

[eudaimonikos]

Ghosts aren't real, where I'm from. Sometimes the fabric of time gets a little snagged, and then humans might see things like ghosts, but they're not actual people.

[It's still something, but he thinks that's the relevant distinction. Anyway, he figures most ghost sightings aren't that at all; just electrical fields or something.]

Of course that doesn't mean anything about him. But you're probably right. Humans do hallucinate.

[ideismo]

He did stop eventually. Thankfully enough.

[So at least there's...that...]

Do people ever come back, where you're from? Not as ghosts, but properly brought back to life after dying.

[eudaimonikos]

Only four. But technically, that was a total reversal of the timeline. So they weren't brought back to life after dying, so much as they were prevented from ever having died in the first place after dying.

[.....]

Does that make sense?

[ideismo]

...They died, but it was rendered such that they didn't. After the fact.

Correct...?

voice;

[a_shadow]

[ She says the words very firmly: ]

No. It's not.