WEEK 0 MINGLE

[probe]

POPULATION: 37

Good morning, starshines. It is another beautiful day here on the base and it’s the start of a new week!

After the events of the day before and the meet and greet provided by four new Avatars, you may find yourself wondering how you can get in touch with them again. Fear not. One look at your handy dandy cell phone will reveal eight new contacts added to your directory. Feel free to shoot them a message. You may be surprised.

But before you get too far, perhaps it’s worth checking out the base once more. Those locked rooms from the days before have been unlocked, free for exploration. In addition, should occupants visit the central elevator they will find the elevator in working order (and flame-free) and that a new floor has opened. Take a look, familiarize yourself, and make yourself comfortable. Life on the base is a happy place.

And speaking of happiness…it’s funny. For the rest of the week, all who reside on the base will be inflicted with little feelings of hope and happiness, a belief that they can manifest almost anything. This week, all will discover that any mundane thing they hope for will be at their disposal...though do be careful. Those small wishes may come to fruition in ways you don't expect. For example, wishing for a year's supply of sushi may net you one astronomically large sushi roll. An eyeshadow palette may provide you with samples of actual colored eyelids. And a punching bag could be mistaken for a bag full of confetti instead.

May all your hopes and dreams come true, everyone.

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Comments

[commedia]

Memory? Ah...

[And a little bit of a sad look?]

That could be useful. I have some memory issues, myself. Mmm. Perhaps I could use it for such a thing...what a good idea.

[kokytos]

[ He notices that. He always catches things like that, ever-observant as he is. He quietly and politely drinks his tea. ]

Is that so? Does it have to do with your state as a Heroic Spirit?

[commedia]

I believe it does. I am but a shadow of Human Order, after all. A spirit is only a silhouette compared to the real thing.

[kokytos]

[ "Human Order"... ]

Are these memories that crucial to you?

[commedia]

You know...its hard to say. They are a part of my identity, but...in the end, if they do not interfere with my being as a Servant, then perhaps they are not as important as believed to be.

[kokytos]

It's difficult, trying to distinguish who you were versus who you are, and who you will be going on.

Some would even call it unhealthy to cling to the past.

[commedia]

...

[They're silent at that for a moment.]

Do you think back to the past often, Steven?

[kokytos]

I might.

I dwell on things. I'm not as forward-thinking as Klaus, or living in the present like everyone else is.

I think back on how things got to the way they were, if things were better if this or that happened instead, how much grief I could've saved both myself and others if I'd just done more, or if I'd done a little less.

[ Haha... ] There's no point in thinking about all of that, but it's just in my nature, I guess.

[commedia]

...Isn't that just being human? The desire to go back and fix everything, and yet learn to move forward and deal with the consequences?

[A low exhale.]

But of course, there are things one can never fix, as hard as they try.

[kokytos]

It is being human. For the most part.

That man I mentioned -- he's a unique, different sort. The type who can always look towards a future and see something brighter there, no matter what. [ It's astounding, really. Steven wishes often he could be like that. ]

Mistakes are mistakes, the past is the past. Suppose the only thing you can do is decide how you want to move forward. [ A sigh... and that's just as hard to decide. ]

[commedia]

...You admire him quite a lot, don't you.

[Its just stating facts, really. They can tell, based on the tone of the other's words.]

That is true. But let's say, what if one is stuck? To move forward seems like a terrible impossibility. Its easy to say, to move forward, but what if it feels like there is nothing to move forward to, hm?

[kokytos]

[ Yeah honestly it's kind of obvious enough to be a little gross.
Me: wow I'm just reading too much into this
Canon: you're really not ]

When there's nothing to move forward to... [ A faint smile, there. Absent-minded, quiet, thoughtful. ] Well, I suppose there just isn't moving forward. Or maybe, to fall downwards instead.

[commedia]

...Fall downwards. Like a hole opening up underneath you.

[Is there a flicker of something in their eyes at that?]

What a terrible. Its like stagnation. And that only invites malignant growths. No, no. One must avoid that, I think.

[kokytos]

Isn't that how most people describe it when they fall? To hopelessness, to despair.
"Like a hole opening up under, swallowing you whole, the light falling farther and farther from your reach".

[ Something like that. ]

I've seen and dealt with the depraved. The only thing that astounds me is that I can always, always see worse.

[commedia]

"Abandon hope, all ye who enter here." Yes, indeed.

[How does this clown know Dante's Inferno? Don't ask!]

You can see worse? Ahhh...Steven. Saying stuff like that is worrying, you know? What worse exactly can you see? The worst case scenario?

[kokytos]

[ LAUGH TRACK PLAYS AT MY USERNAME ah yes time to go to the deepest layer of hell ]

Right. The Divine Comedy -- don't you think that's such an apt name?
[ Life is a joke. Religion is a joke. Let's just laugh and drink our way to Hell -- death to the doctors and drink to the Devil. ]

Oh, so many things. [ He shrugs! ] A being is only bound as much by two things -- their physical limits, and their moral limits. Physical limits are objective, no matter how hard you try, you just can't do what you're not capable of. Moral, or subjective limits, are different.

To kill a man once, the largest hurdle is only the first kill. Once you're past that, "God is dead" -- the illusion, broken.

[commedia]

Of course it is! Of course it is...hm!

[A comedy, through and through! Of course, the jester would laugh at this. Humanity, civilizations, gods. All patently ridiculous at their core.]

What an interesting way of looking at things. You are suggesting there is a boundary that will eventually be crossed at some point for both, if one pushes themselves to the edge. Hahahaha. Ahaha, yes, murder is certainly such a boundary. Past that point, its a rolling hill downwards. Hell has never been so inviting.

[kokytos]

[ Gods... even God, as humanity knew them or Him -- it was all an ugly farce. So said the philosophers who weren't satisfied with tearing the world apart in the form of science -- they had to then tear themselves apart next through philosophy.

He laughs, hollowly, now knowing there are more concrete "gods" out there, and none are forgiving. ]

The "boundary" is also a man-made construct. There's no real anything that stops a man from taking whatever he wants except this thing we created called "morals". And I suppose, if you look deeply into the most base of instincts, "self-interest". [ He tilts the tea in his cup as he speaks, watching the liquid swirl around. ] Look no further for proof than the standard profile of serial killers -- kill an animal first, and when that becomes dissatisfying, kill a man. And if that's not enough, drag the entire world into it and seek infamy for your actions.

[ Ah... he's so tired. Steven raises a hand to his forehead, sighing.
The world is such a horrible, horrible place. ]

[commedia]

So we are no better than the animals, hm? How amusing. Humanity pretends to be loftier than that, creating rules and laws for themselves to follow...but inside, they're just as chaotic and wild as any rabid beast if they simply open the cage a little.

[And of course, they know that too well. Corruption, twisting people into monsters, allowing them to achieve the basest needs, desires, wants, sins at the bottom of their terrible hearts.]

Hahaha! One wonders how the world has not collapsed in on itself, if its inhabitants are this wild and ruthless at their cores.

[kokytos]

No better than the animals? Lest I remind you, animal species don't bully, maim, kill one another based on mere personal whims and interests. [ We're worse. ] Just crack the door open... put a fracture in that moral event horizon, and humans fall apart. Maybe because we make such a big deal about morality and what it means to be human?

[ A light chuckle, like he's laughing that off. What the fuck does it all mean -- it's all too much for him. He himself is human, after all. Hopefully. ]

Just barely held together by the one in a million truly "good" people, is all. If Devils must exist, then so surely must Angels. [ It's impossible to place the denotation of "Evil" unless there is a comparative "Good". ]

[commedia]

Just one little fracture, and everything comes tumbling down, mm.

[A repeat of what Steven said, but a repeat worth mentioning.]

Oh, ohh, but even angels can be cruel as well! Devils and angels are hardly adversaries at their essence. Lucifer was a fallen angel himself too, hm! Just two sides of the same coin, ever pretending they're different! And so the same goes for humans! Good people...bad people...these labels mean nothing, in the end. All we can be sure of is the fallibility of the human soul.

[kokytos]

It's worse the larger the build up. Like taking the brick out of a single-story, as opposed to doing the same with a skyscraper to the heavens.

[ He removes his hand, taking a moment to drink more tea. ] Yeah. "Satan" as we know it was just an angel who disagreed with God -- and Mastema, too, is an angel known as the father of evil, tempter of humans to test their faith. [ Testing faith. The thin wire. Ever-teetering. He feels like tea just won't cut it.

In the dark of his mind, he sees a small flame. That flicker, a red light, ruby bright, a beacon. Thanks, Hope Effect! It's subtle, but it helps. He huffs a quiet laugh. ]

Now, what would we do, really, without those infallibles.

[commedia]

Satan who Art As Lucifero...yes. An altogether complicated figure. How funny, that the great evil humans put forward as an adversary comes from the very good they worship! What irony!

[There's a bit of a strangely knowing smile, here. Yes...Lucifer, indeed. And he, dancing alongside the devil.]

...Infallibles? Are you thinking of something in particular?

[kokytos]

And to think, it doesn't need to be that complicated. It's like the great old question -- can God create a rock that He cannot lift? Whether true or false, the paradox proves that there are things God cannot do, but even then, people will insist.

...If God, or the gods, are all-powerful, then why create an angel that rebels, a race that is imperfect and sinful, one that can become disillusioned and go against their very creator?

[ Irony... and also, plentiful sacrilege indeed. Especially from someone who wears like, five silver crosses on their body. ]

Infallibles, you know. Like my boss. Or to speak in a more generic sense [ as in "something", ] -- "hope". No matter how low mankind sinks... it never seems to die out.