ataraxion | 002; rude questions [video/action]

Entry tags:

002; rude questions [video/action]

Ladies and gentlemen of the Tranquility, good evening.

[From the video, you can see Albert is seated somewhere in the oxygen gardens, on a wide-open patch of grass. He looks somewhat contemplative.]

I have a-- a somewhat personal question to ask of you all, so don't feel compelled to answer if you don't wish to. [He seems to hesitate, and then he plunges ahead quickly, as if he must ask it before he loses courage.]

How many of you here believed yourselves to have passed away before you woke up in this place?

And-- for those of you who don't want to talk about something quite so morbid, maybe you could tell me what year, or what country, or planet you come from. I'd... really like to hear about other people's homes. As for me-- I'm from Paris, France, the year 5053.

I've also got some tea and plenty of cups to go around here in the garden, if you'd prefer to speak in person. I'd welcome the company, and the chance to meet all of you.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

I do not believe, I know. I was shot alongside my brother, defending the Republic.

Edited 2013-03-23 01:15 (UTC)

I knew that I was dying as it happened, yes. When I woke here I thought it was some sort of afterlife, despite the fact that the idea of it seems strange to me.

[That's his brow furrowing a little there.]

I knew for a fact because...it all seemed so important suddenly. The details were all sharper, clearer focus than they ever had been. For just seconds. And my wound, by any case, was more than fatal and I felt it.

...Odd...

I'm from England, 1975. As for death--

[He pauses for a few seconds. This is rather difficult to think about, truth be told, and he isn't certain if he wants to go ahead and speak of it. But, well, for the sake of knowledge:]

I used to be here when I was much older. And I was told that I knew that I'd died.

what if we don't like tea?

[There's a faint smile as he watches the feed, back to hiding his sadness for the most part.]

I am well aware that I was dying before I found myself here.

[Well, since Albert already knows perfectly well what his own opinion had been just at first, Jehan sees little reason to rehash it. Although...]

Has something sparked your curiosity?

[He meant the question openly; Albert had seemed adamantly against the idea that anyone here was not alive, when they'd met. Perhaps something had changed.]

You aren't the first to say as such...

Do you-- do you still think this is the afterlife?

From what I have seen of it, no, I cannot think so. It feels...quite different from when I was dying for one thing. The...quality of things is very different than what came over me.

I do think, for whatever reasons, that this place is real and we are alive. It makes no sense, but I believe it. ...That sounds odd, doesn't it?

When you were older...?

But now you're here, and you're-- younger? How does that work?

[Albert blinks in surprise when he sees the little text message pop up, unsure of how to reply or who it might be from. After a moment's pause:]

... I suppose you could bring whatever drink you wished. It's not really about the tea. I just thought it might be nice.

Oh...

Do you-- do you suppose it's possible for a person to be unaware of their own death?

[He's still adamantly against it, truth be told. But he'd told Alex that he would investigate for her, since she seemed disturbed about not being a ghost anymore. And Albert always tries to keep his word.]

Sparked it? No... that's not quite right. I've always been curious. It would be more accurate to say that... I was afraid to discuss it.

[Another one? Well, it had been mentioned...]

Ah... by any chance, would you happen to be friends with Messieurs Jehan and Combeferre?

It does sound odd, and yet, I can't think of a more plausible explanation...

For one thing, there's far few too people here for it to be the afterlife.

I see.

[Not only perfectly rational and acceptable, but that had been what Jehan had guessed of him at first. Well, before he'd seen the error in calling this the afterlife.]

...It's all a bit paradoxical in a sense, isn't it? In your time everyone from mine is long past, and in mine, your existence is only a distant possibility.

Perhaps terms like 'death' are too finite. Life is so broad and so short, and pre-existence and death are infinitely longer and broader. We are too distant to have ever touched and yet, here we are.

Maybe man is very arrogant, thinking in such a narrow way!

[That's how he'd like to view it, anyway. A world beyond imagination; that seemed right, as nature was more complex than man.]

[That gets a faint smile out of him.]

Perhaps so. And yet, even after meeting so many people who claim to have met their ends, I still can't think of this as any kind of afterlife.

Just for starters, there's not nearly enough people.

Well... yes, there is that. And then, if you'd want to be logical about it-- [Which he wasn't always, but all right,] --the order of it doesn't quite make sense.

I fell before a friend of mine, and yet, he greeted me here. He has been here for months, even. Yet, I had seen him not minutes ago when it happened.

[Jehan can talk about this with a straight face because he has had an absurd amount of practice since arriving.]

[Now that catches his interest]

What-- really?

Then... it's possible for those who have passed before us to still find their way here after us?

God only knows. The same reason we're able to talk, even though we're hundreds of years apart, I suspect.

I... suppose it must be, mustn't it?

[It would be impossible to miss that spark, but Jehan thinks it kindest not to comment upon it.]

In fact, it is proven.

Seriously? You're seriously asking about who's dead here?

Why the fuck do you even care?

[Even over the network, it's impossible to miss the slow blush of embarrassment creeping up Albert's cheeks]

I-I did say people didn't have to answer! But if someone's comfortable discussing it, then what's the harm?

And I'm asking on behalf of a friend.

Edited 2013-03-23 03:08 (UTC)

Well yeah, no shit people don't have to answer, it's not like you can force anyone to reply to things here. But I don't exactly see what you can gain from a few people showing up and saying yeah, they died, now they're here. I mean seriously, what's the point of that?

... Ah ...

[Albert's face looks like it doesn't even know what it's doing. His eyes widen in surprise, then his mouth seems about to smile, but then he looks down again to furiously blink back tears. There's easily a million emotions going through his head right now, each battling for dominance. This is possibly the best and simultaneously worst news he's received since arriving, and he doesn't know what to do with it. At all.

Embarrassed, he finally settles for putting a hand over his face.]

... I'm-- sorry. Excuse me. I just-- haha. Thank you for telling me this, Jehan.

... My friend was a ghost, before she came here.

Now she's here, and she's... not one, any more. So-- I'm trying to find out for her if anyone else has had a similar experience.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Page 1 of 18

002; rude questions [video/action]

video;

Video:

no subject

text;

video;

[Video]

Permavideo

Video:

no subject

video

permavideo o/

[Video forever o/ unless something else happens haha]

permavideo unless otherwise specified \o/

no subject

/o/

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

video

permavideo o/

no subject

no subject

no subject