⨂ — 002. VOICE; un: Sugarlips

[southernchere]

Howdy, Sweet Peas.

Hope ya'll are havin' a good day today. If you are, tell me all about it. What's makin' today better than the rest? — And if it ain't goin' as fine as peach fuzz, what is it about today that's makin' it difficult?

You can answer me in any way you like, public or privately. Through video chat, text, or the good ol' fashion phone call. Whichever makes you feel most comfortable. Regardless, my line is open, and I'm here to listen.

Comments

voice; un: dragonpunch

[hamachaya]

To begin with, I ain't really thrilled to be here. That's the biggest thing right now.

[southernchere]

There are plenty of us folks who aren't so tickled pink to be here. You're not alone with feelin' with how you're feelin'. What kind of mood is it puttin' ya in? Is it sadness, anger, or is it another emotion completely?

[hamachaya]

Kinda angry? I mean, I'm pissed someone's draggin' my name through the mud and took me from home without so much as a warnin'.

[southernchere]

What was the reason for that someone to do that, if ya don't mind me askin'. It's alright, if it's too personal.

[hamachaya]

Hell if I know. I didn't do anythin' wrong in the first place. They can say I committed some crime all I want, but I know who I am, and I ain't a criminal.

[southernchere]

Oh, that! My mistake, Sugah. I thought you meant someone from home was talkin' nasty about ya. — Guess my hamster died on the wheel for a second.

[there's a brief pause and some shuffling sounds on her end of the call. maybe getting herself more comfortable? who knows.]

The crimes they said we so-called "committed" ain't the full truth. Some are exaggerated. As to why, there's no tellin'. Probably this system's way to have a hoot and a holler.

[hamachaya]

Oh. [ a beat. ] Sorry about your hamster.

[ figures of speech, going right over ryuu's head. ]

Nah, it's nothin' like that. I mean, I know a couple'a weirdos, but no one actually bein' cruel or anythin' like that. Anyway-- my crime doesn't even make sense, but none'a this does really.

--This is really a "simulation" or whatever Fauna said, huh? [ she looked up the word! still really weird. ]

voice; un:curtaincall

[endcaller]

[With a cheerful chime in his voice.]

Were I to tell you what weighs on my mind what would you do? Or is the airing of grievances itself meant to bring solace?

[southernchere]

[ugh, this fucking guy.]

I will do as I said I was gonna do. Be a lendin' ear and listen to ya. We all need someone to talk to now and then. Important talks or not.

[endcaller]

Then will you listen to what plagues my heart? I'll warn you, 'tis not pleasant.

[southernchere]

I've been around the block and heard a lotta things. Lay it on me, Sugah.

cw: suicidal ideation, existential horror

[endcaller]

Very well then...

[His lilt curls.

What to say here...? A joke? Confess to something silly? Or reveal a bit of the truth and see what happens?]

[Private to Rogue]

As we live we hurt, we murder, we torment, we wage wars. The trauma of existence endures, always, as darkness burned upon our very souls. Hope, meanwhile, is a fleeting thing, meaningless against the immortality of pain. At the end of it all, we face the empty finality of death.

[Some of the playfulness drops away, his voice lowers into his throat.]

So I ask you...

When life itself is full of such despair, when even hope means naught, when our greatest triumphs are destined only to fade in time... Why bother living at all?

private

[southernchere]

[as promised, she listens to him mindfully — her voice and her breathing completely still so to not disturb what his heart wishes to confess. and when he is done, rogue exhales without hurrying, then says with a delicate tone:]

Because of the people in it. Those who are in your life, those who care for ya, the hearts you've touched, they would want you to see and hear your voice every day and in any way they can.

There is no pleasure without pain. Just like there's no dark without light. But at the end of every hell storm, there's sunshine, there's fresh air, and blue skies. I know it's hard to see through all the thorn bushes, but there's beauty beyond it.

What helps... is havin' someone holdin' your hand through it, so ya ain't facin' it alone.

voice; un: goo

[mightymorphin]

I'd get in line, but don't I unload on you enough already?

[southernchere]

Hey now, don't be a goof. Ya know I'm always here to listen to my good ol' buddy Morph. So, tell me about your day, Sugah. — What highlight is stickin' out the most for ya?

private;

[mightymorphin]

It's not my day that's bothering me. There's... something that's been on my mind for a while.

Instead of me trying to explain, could you take a listen to this?

[Morph sends her a link of a voice conversation from from about a month ago along with the message.]

private; 1/3.

[southernchere]

Alright, I'll call ya right back after I listen to it.

private; 2/3

[southernchere]

[so she hangs up for a second to go listen, because no one has taught her how to stay on the line by pressing the mute button to hear the recording, then unmute. maybe some day, someone will teach her that. but... her heart is shattering into pieces just by listening to this conversation. immortality isn't something new, but... it's still not an easy subject.]

private; 3/3

[southernchere]

[so she calls right back as promised, and no needing to announce herself that it's her calling.]

Okay, I listened to it. [a pause.] — Tell me what you're thinkin'.

private;

[mightymorphin]

It's - without proof it's just a theory, right? But that means there's no good way of testing it without waiting a decade or two to see if I slow down along with everyone else. I'm thinking that Hank must've known about it and didn't want to freak me out.

I never wanted anything like this. And looking at the people I know who've lived past a normal human lifespan? They're all lonely and miserable. Logan's gone through years of abuse from people in power, and Nurarihyon is so jaded I couldn't get through to him.

private;

[southernchere]

[she lets them speak their mind, and she is silent for a moment or two — contemplating what she should say over something that's... so difficult, something she knows she would never truly understand. logan would be a better candidate than her, maybe. but unfortunately, that wild boy isn't here.]

When I was tyke, and before I really knew what a mutant was, there were some other kids I played with sometimes. Who came around, 'cuz my mama and my daddy were friends with their parents. And I remember we talked about if we could have any superpower in the world, what we would pick. They said the usual ones, the kind everyone says.

But one kid told us they wanted to live forever... and be famous. I understood why at the time. 'Cuz death.... it's scary. No one knows what happens after, and there's all these dang theories as to what could happen. And even then, with all of this being dead and comin' back to life, it's like the reaper just picks and chooses and does whatever he wants and whatever he feels. — Don't make one lick of sense to me.

Now I'm older, I've learned livin' forever can be just as scary as death. Just as heartwreckin'. Makes ya think which grass is greener sometimes.

[a beat.]

But the one thing they both share are the memories you'll carry on, and rememberin' how special you were to those lives you've touched. You being a part of their lives made their world lovelier than without. Without you being there, they might have gone in a different path than they were ought to go.

Kurt told me I helped Remy live, and while it's still hard without that swamp rat, I'm... glad I was able to help him be the good man that he became. 'Cuz who knows who could have been if I weren't there by his side.

voice; un: grimreaper666

[rebellions]

Oh great. There's a new shrink in town.

[ And he just so happens to be the most difficult patient on the planet. ]

[southernchere]

I wouldn't call myself that, I ain't got a degree. How about just a friendly ear in town?

[rebellions]

You're gonna listen to people's whining for free? Crazy or just a masochist?

[southernchere]

It's better than listenin' to my own.