those tangled weeds

[debug_mode]

WHO: weeds
WHERE: Weeds Clubhouse
WHEN: day 55, morning-midday.

[Your Name has a little speech for anyone in the weeds clubhouse common room.]

Okay, everyone! It's been a rough few days for us. Going out into the mist. Rescuing the abducted sheep. Being... controlled, if you were unfortunate enough to have that happen to you. And then the return, and then the ritual to 'punish' us.

Does anyone have anything they particularly want to share? About what they saw, or what they experienced? Maybe... [a long pause and a sigh] ...maybe it's best we were all on the same page.

--Oh, if you're new, my name is Your Name, by the way.

[General post for weeds! Feel free to ignore Your Name's speech and have your own thread, at whatever time or place around the clubhouse.]

Comments

[jerkalope]

So it’s more like...sustenance?

[ his interest is genuine. motives are his favorite things to understand about others, regardless of being pleasant or vile. ]

But you don't have something you like in particular? Something that feels...hmm, appropriate? Or agreeable? Heh, although getting all of you to agree may be a little much if every bird has an opinion.

[finalefantasy]

We live for endings.

[a littl enigmatic? yes. entirely truthful? also yes.]

[jerkalope]

[ tilts his head ]

Ah, even yours?

[finalefantasy]

When we have spread the song of death to the far reaches of the stars, then of course there will be no need for us.

[jerkalope]

I guess it's sort of a chicken and egg thing. Or whatever kind of birds you are! Do you want the extinction of the stars and everything so you can finally get a nap, or is this entropy hastening your big deal and death is just a given afterthought?

[ he is taking this 100% seriously and not a hypothetical, but also hearing "need for us" is him going ooh someone has PURPOSE ]

[finalefantasy]

Death is our purpose, in itself. In endings lie peace. In the lack of rebirth lies the assurance of peace.

Are you interested; or interested largely in getting to know us?

[jerkalope]

Hey, hey, we're some kind of work associates, right? Of course I'm interested in getting to know you!

...not too interested in being dead right away, though. See, I'm someone who accepts life's little sufferings, it makes the peaceful moments that much nicer.

[ and you can tell he's being truthful. his is an identity that's been focused on watching over a long-time experiment, hundreds and thousands of souls being judged for their crimes, trying to shift through them to find a "perfect" way to judge them despite the disparate histories, cultures, ethics, and sympathies. ]

[finalefantasy]

[she rubs a wing across her own cheek, a little curiously, beak opening and shutting for a moment. Jackalope may notice that for as steady and clear her mental voice is, she really makes no noise that a bird would make.]

But it means nothing. All the niceness is hollow at its core, even sweetened by suffering. You must know that, surely.

[jerkalope]

You mean in the grand scheme of the universe? Sure! The stars will die out; galaxies will spiral into the abyss; whatever started will decay from entropy. And every living thing will be long gone, so nobody can even hold onto the memory what once was. It'll go back to nothing.

But hollowness can only exist when nothing is encapsulated by something. It has to demonstrate an absence, heh, and you know what they say about absence...

[finalefantasy]

[their head tilts. this is either an opinion they haven't heard before, or one they've heard only rarely. whichever one it is, they keep their counsel about it.]

That it makes the heart grow fonder; or do you refer to another saying?

[jerkalope]

That's the one! Humans get really poetic about things like that, don't they? Pull apart every string and atom in the universe and you'll never find anything that demonstrates justice, mercy, or hope...but they still go and construct those concepts like little sand castles when the tide is rising. And it's all thanks to knowing what they have can be taken away.

[finalefantasy]

Interesting.

How old are you, little creature?

[jerkalope]

Hey, I know you've got numbers on your side, but one on one right now I'm bigger...

[ three. he's a three year old mature grown up jackalope. ]

[finalefantasy]

[my god. the snake called a weed littler than himself]

Size is irrelevant to the question. You're very confident, for what you're asserting.

[jerkalope]

[ it's relevant to him! let him feel big this one time! ]

Haha, show me a mercy molecule and I'll sing a different tune I suppose. But death is the one absolute. So why rush an experiment to its outcome?

[finalefantasy]

Why do you presume we have rushed it?

Our conclusion was reached after longer than long, and we've been singing the end ever since.

[jerkalope]

Because it's gonna happen no matter what. If my job was that certain, I'd slack off a little, you know? No point in hassling over the inevitable.

[finalefantasy]

[a little sigh]

None of you see. A pity, really.

[jerkalope]

I wouldn't let it get you down. Heh. I spend time with the amoral and insane trying to justify themselves, doesn't mean I don't enjoy their company.

And if that's your purpose, hey everybody needs a hobby. After all, if I explained cosmic nihilism about an indifferent and uncaring universe, I'd now have to amend it to feature galaxy brained murder birds.

[finalefantasy]

If that is what you set between yourself and the dark of the void, then we wish you joy of it. For as long as you are able to muster it.

[she stretches her wings, scratches at the feathers under her collar for a moment, then takes off and away]

[jerkalope]

[ calling out (and it's still weirdly sincere) ]

Good talk! See you next group meeting!