Video; Dream a little dream with me

[ushahin]

[It's been a while since Ushahin has posted to the network. He always ends up enjoying the responses he gets, for it gives him a good pulse on what the cave residents are up to. It's time for another one of what Sans once called his "philosophy hour."

He's sitting outside, and for once, is wearing sunglasses, hiding the worst of the damage done to his eye sockets. It appears that he's watching something up in the sky, the moment of his head going round and round.]

I used to wonder sometimes if being brought here was a punishment for all the wrongs I have done in my life. I don't suppose it is so, but sometimes, the idea seems to have merit. Tell me, what is the worst thing you have done in your life? No lying or vague answers for this one or I'll pull it right out of your heads. Just tell me the truth.

[What he's been watching rapidly descends, revealing the dot in the cave ceiling to have been Fetch, his raven friend. He lands on the ground and hops over, giving whoever is watching an extreme close-up of the raven as he pecks at the device. He gives out a guttural Grrrawww! to Ushahin, who seems to be listening to it as if it's actual words.]

I suppose you are right. Fair trade and all that. I won't tell anyone else. You don't live to be my age without learning how to keep a secret. And if you tell me one, if you would like, I'll tell you one of mine.

Comments

[Video]

[elegant_and_proud]

Worst thing by whose standards? Our own? Or by society's standards?

[She's not offering to share just yet, but there is a distinction and she's curious how he's making it.]

[ushahin]

Your own. For society is often wrong and we are our own worst critics.

[If he believed everything the people of Urulat said about him, he'd be a completely irredeemable monster with nothing but darkness in his heart.]

[elegant_and_proud]

Both quite true. What made you curious about this?

[ushahin]

An attempt as of late to improve myself. I looked upon what I had become and found that I was slipping farther into what I had always feared I would become. You must understand that I was known as one of the most wicked and cruel beings in my own world. I had always thought the reputation undeserved, but since coming here...I have had cause to wonder if it was not justified.

[He would never deny that he had caused a lot of pain and misery in his time, but he'd always thought he was in the right in doing so. Now things were different.]

[elegant_and_proud]

I think like many things, it becomes a matter of perspective. Mage guild work is essentially mercenary in nature. Jobs are posted in the guild hall, and mages choose which to take. I do not regret any of the jobs I chose.

[Her actual regret? It's something that many would consider minor and inconsequential compared to the things she doesn't regret at all. But it does weigh on her mind occasionally.]

The people you harmed are not necessarily wrong for seeing you that way because they were harmed, but you know your reasons for the harm you inflicted.

[ushahin]

It was never done with truly malicious intent. Always, it was in defense, just to make it all stop. All I wanted for myself and my people was to be left alone. But the world always saw fit to stamp us out instead.

[His enemies had succeeded far too well in their goal. Ushahin was the last of his kind, the one remaining survivor of those who had been loyal to his god Satoris. The trauma of that experience would never fade. A full year almost he had been here and still the wounds were raw.]

[elegant_and_proud]

I see this place as neither punishment nor reward. Merely an opportunity to learn about other universes, and to do something different with our lives. In a place like this where people do not stay dead and where we are confined to a relatively small community, it's more sensible to judge one another on our actions here rather than acts in our previous homeworlds.

[Her hands certainly aren't clean. Neither are plenty of other people's here. So there's not much point in being overly judgmental.]

[ushahin]

Well said. Mayhaps I will learn something different about myself from this experience if nothing else.

[Even if he tried and failed, at least he had put forth the effort, rather than letting himself remain the same as he always had.]