expiationnet | text; (ANONYMOUS)

Are you afraid that if time passes you won't get to meet again?

That's right. Arranging another meeting would be...difficult.

Nh.

[A small confused cluster of letters as the charm tries to transcribe a throaty chuckle.]

Ah. What unfortunate timing this world has.

I hope you'll forgive me for being frustrating. I don't know the circumstances of your plans, but perhaps it was not yet your time?

Interesting phrasing.

You make it sound as though I was on my way to die...

Ah! I apologize, I didn't mean it like that. That was careless wording.

I just meant perhaps that meeting was not fated to be. As disappointing as it is, sometimes the more we try to control our lives and attach ourselves to plans, the more we force ourselves into the idea of what we want, rather than what fate presents us.

For instance, have you heard of Urashimatarou?

No, I have not.

Urashimatarou was a fisherman in a small village. He was a compassionate man who loved his work and community, and he would go out often to bring back what he could even in bad weather. One day, he caught a strange fish more beautiful than any he had seen before. Admiring how rare and lovely it was, he let it go.

Soon after, a sea turtle came and told him the fish he had spared was actually the daughter of the Dragon God, and as thanks for his kindness, the lord wanted him to come stay in his palace and marry his daughter. Urashimatarou accompanied the sea turtle to the bottom of the ocean and entered the palace, where he was awarded many fine treasures and given a feast. He married the princess and lived in the dragon palace for many days.

But the fisherman's compassion always returned to his village. He spent weeks worrying, longing to meet his friends and family again. After a year in the ocean, he couldn't take it any longer. He asked the Dragon God for permission to return home. The lord and princess both urged him not to go, but he insisted that he couldn't sleep another night without seeing his old home. Finally, after many negotiations, the Dragon God relented. Urashimatarou rode the sea turtle back to the surface and to shore... but when he arrived, none of the streets or buildings were familiar. Even the people he spoke to looked and dressed differently, and no one knew any of the names he asked them about. In a year, centuries had already passed on the surface, and Urashimatarou had become a stranger to his old land.

Perhaps it is something like that for all of us?

If I were sent home only to find centuries had passed in my absence I do not think it would make me reflect more fondly on my time here.

Well, what if you went back and discovered you weren't the same?

If I were to be so deeply changed by this world that I became an alien to my own...

Heh.

Why am I bothering to answer? I am the wrong person to ask this question to.

I only meant it as a possibility. We might have been brought here to learn something about ourselves.

If gods really did pick us, usually they do so for a purpose. A message of some kind.

You believe in the gods of this world, then?

Well... I believe that there is someone strong enough to bring us here. As for their intentions, those haven't been clear enough yet. But I think for now I'm undecided?

Yes. Those are my thoughts as well.

That there is a power here, I have no doubt. That there are divine entities that respond to prayer? Hm! Well...

I suppose after a certain point, does it matter if they are or aren't a god? They are if they say they are. If people believe it.

Ah, I don't know. Terms are too complicated. This one's a god or that one's a demon... they do seem to react in some way to offerings, if that helps. I don't mind being here, but I'd like to go home eventually as well. I have to work.

Really? ...And what work is that?

[Normally Sephiroth doesn't care. Humans do human things. However, he's starting to learn that the sorts of people that are drawn to Expiation are not so ordinary. Or human.]

Ah. I guess it would be fixing things? Maintenance here and there whenever it's needed. And some mediating, of course.

[He says "of course" even though it's not a great explanation or things that typically belong under the same job umbrella. If it sounds like he's just making things up, well.]

Of course. Are these not things you can do in Aldrip?

Hm... I don't think it would be the same. I don't believe this world has the same need for my skills as my own?

Don't you think things here move in different ways? Everything is quieter.

Edited 2023-04-12 19:06 (UTC)

I do.

Yet there is something about this place I cannot trust. A calm before a storm, perhaps... Or at the center of one.

[But Sephiroth has never been very good at self-deception. If he's honest with himself he'll acknowledge that what he feels is a wariness about any world strong enough to extract him from his own.]

Perhaps, or maybe it's just moving at its own pace?

[Seimei is used to improvising in places he doesn't quite belong. Whether that is in court, in the modern life of Japan, or a spiritual realm not meant for humans, he has learned how hard it is to change anything, so he goes with the flow.]

Even if time passes, there are ways to return home. For now, maybe we should see how things play out?

I do not think that would suit me.

I would rather try to find my way home. You may sit and do nothing, if you wish.

How harsh. I didn't say 'nothing'. I just think there are ways to find what you want without being too reckless.

Edited 2023-05-01 19:28 (UTC)