[network] Event: Long & Lost [NIGHT 217]

[snowblindmods]

it's been so long between the words we spoke
will you be there up on the shore, I hope

[Make sure to note any specific warnings in your subject lines!]

Comments

@Iwillnot ; video

[absentconstellation]

[ The Cat tries to look as though he isn't terribly bothered and is making this announcement for no real reason. Anyone with knowledge of cat body language can see otherwise, though: His ears flick every which way, listening for the smallest sign of trouble, and his tail whips back and forth low to the ground with more than idle speed. ]

I do not fear death. If this is to be my end, so long before the end of all things as it was meant to be, then I will accept it. Perhaps the dulling of my senses is the first sign of what is to come.

It would not be correct to say that I am afraid. Rather, that I mourn. I mourn the lives that I will not know, the changes that the Mortal Realms have hungered for the last four centuries. I mourn you all, whose lives have been cut short by this aberration. I mourn you, as I mourn the many thousands of friends that I have loved and lost in their time.

Know this: I remember all of them. And, should I survive, I will remember all of you.

@hotstud_xxx; text

[rubikscomplex]

some people shouldn't be remembered

video;

[absentconstellation]

It is not something I can pick and choose.

video;

[rubikscomplex]

people forget things
eidetic memory is never actually perfect

video;

[absentconstellation]

Would you find it difficult to recall the last hour of your life? I have lived eons. A few thousand years is hardly so long a time.

permatext

[rubikscomplex]

depends on what i was doing for that hour
and if i was high

[He can be contrary, too, starcat.]

[absentconstellation]

The point remains.

[ Don't be an ass, you ass. ]

@catseye; video [private]

[grimalkid]

I remember everyone I couldn't save, too... [He notices just how agitated you are, though, Cat. And he's going to try and purr shakily.] Thank you, for being so willing to do that.

video [private]

[absentconstellation]

It is a role I have chosen for myself. [ He looks away, into the distance, like he can see the past laid out behind him. And he can, in his mind - an endless line of people he has loved. ]

Any immortal who chooses to live among mortals must accept such a fate.

[grimalkid]

An immortal, really? I guess that makes sense, if you're a star-cat like that guy said. You're much more approachable than some of the gods I've seen, though.

[absentconstellation]

I am not a god. I am a constellation.

[ He has obviously said this exact thing many, many times. ]

[grimalkid]

Oh, that makes more sense with the star thing. So is the whole star sign thing actually true?

audio; @dreamsnhonor

[heroproceeding]

I feel you there.. You know. Just with all those lives that have been put on hold around here. I wish there was some way we could change things right now, you know? Not constantly feel like we're dragging our feet and just hoping we'll eventually find it.

I don't want anyone stuck here using what time they have just trying to survive and hardly bein' happy.

audio;

[absentconstellation]

Fate is cruel, but not unmovable. You cannot win back the time that was taken from you, but it need not be the only time you have left.

[heroproceeding]

Yeah... Fair enough, Smokey. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate the time I do have here, even if it's in a place I'm sure no one would like to be. Doesn't mean I gotta like where we are though.

[ He pauses before humming to himself. ]

By the way, you serious? About remembering everyone. I mean if you've lived a long time... that's a lot of people to remember..

[absentconstellation]

I am a Constellation. My perception of time and the world is fundamentally different from yours. As you think of days, I think of millennia.

@godsend, voice

[termineur]

Thank you. It's good to know that at least one mind will remember me.

voice

[absentconstellation]

I'm glad to have been able to help, even in so small a way.

[ It's always a small way, he's found. ]

[termineur]

It's not small to me. I can only imagine how difficult that is, carrying around the memories of that many people.

[absentconstellation]

It's worth it. I wouldn't trade those memories for anything.

[ No matter how much they break his heart. ]

@Kid, Video

[equal_shots]

[A single golden eye is watching the tablet, the dual irises glowing just faintly in the dark. Kid is buried as under his coat as he can be, but both the Cat's body language and words have his entire attention.]

Fearing death would be akin to fearing my father, or myself. That would be foolish. Death is just a natural part of life.

[The visible fabric shifts and he glances away.] ...do you mourn long? If I were to survive this, to go home, every human I have ever known or ever will know, will die long before me. I am afraid of such a breadth of loss.

[Kid hesitates.] Eight hundred years from now, I do not want to forget my closest friends. You still remember?

Video

[absentconstellation]

[ Ah. From just the subtle hints, the Cat can understand the problem. He can help, too, in a way others here probably can't. ]

It is difficult at first. I remember only so much of my first few millennia. But there are things that remain, bright spots in a history of vast darkness.

I believe you will remember your friends. They have made too much an impact on you to be so easily forgotten.

Video

[equal_shots]

You have made new friends?

[With countless lifetimes ahead of him, Kid has lived the equivalent of a blink of an eye and he already is afraid. His father has encouraged him to be more human in his relationship with those who he will serve. It creates a problem.] Is there no point where you have stopped?

[There is a sound that could be a sniff, but it's hard to tell between the teen's cough.] I am not keen on losing a lifetime's worth of friends, several lifetimes over. I can not imagine how my father has done it, or how you have done it, and still been the same.

Video

[absentconstellation]

Between each life I must rest before I can create a mortal body once more. A decade or so, no more.

[ He stretches, getting more comfortable in front of the tablet. ]

But my dear child, one never does stay the same. Even the Great Gods change and grow, slow though it may be.

Your friends will always change you. That is the joy of them.

Video

[equal_shots]

Change, and then leave. All of them. [He swallows thickly, swiping his hand over his eye. While the Cat has gotten more comfortable, Kid is just as restless.] I don't think I can do it.

[Kid fidgets anxiously on the other side of the video, and then:]

You've said "between each life". I do not mean this to be too personal--do you experience a death and rebirth? A...reincarnation?