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[ingloriousdead]

Death is the beginning of life.

Comments

[fanglessone]

Tis true enough, yet unlife can be a tad boring from time to time.

[ingloriousdead]

I would expect no less. It is an upheaval of the natural order of things. There is no place for those who are neither living nor dead. [She doesn't mean to be cruel. It's only the truth.]

[fanglessone]

Processed cheese seems to fit that "upheaval of the natural order" criteria, yet still it remains a fixture of mortal life...

Regardless, you speak the truth and while I have longed to be free of this place for centuries, there is still too much that needs to be done before I shuffle off from this immortal coil.

[ingloriousdead]

Food is sustenance. It serves a purpose. Though I do agree there is some discussion of quality to be had...

[She seems almost amused for a moment, taking a drag from her ever-present cigarette.]

What is there to be done that could not be done by another? That is the way of things. Another picks up where one leaves off. The same is even true of the gods. Who are you to set yourself above them?

[fanglessone]

Quantity over quality does seem to be the standard these days for mortal consumption. Still one cannot find fault in all they have achieved over the years; namely the invention of indoor plumbing, central heating and cooling, and last but not least...iced cream.

Hunting those that would hunt mankind for starters. Alas most of "my kind" has viewed the race of man as little more then cattle, yet I forswore such things and chose to keep the fragile mortal beings safe from the unnatural. When the last of my brethren have been slain, then I shall gladly greet the warm embrace of a dawning sunrise.

[ingloriousdead]

I do find them fascinating. My wards tell me their stories, but it's hardly the same as seeing them with eyes of my own. I'm endlessly fascinated by how much things change. And, of course, how they stay the same. The same worry for what comes after. Fear of death, the unknown. But you are quite right. For all the bad humanity has created, there is still ice cream.

So you would be their shepherd? Do you not trust the flock to tend itself, too protect the weak from the wolves?

[fanglessone]

Some things do change, yet their natural tendency to make war upon one another is only rivaled by the human's penchant for creating magnificent works for art and beauty. Indeed, I still remember in perfect detail the moment I sampled one flavor called Rocky Road...words fail to do justice to that experience.

A shepherd? Perhaps. Though if anything I suppose I would be closer to the wolf who prefers to feast upon other predators. In my world the "flock" is ignorant of what awaits in the dark, at least until it is far to late to stand against it.

[ingloriousdead]

It's difficult for me too taste much of anything. A shame there are no words for the experience, I'd be interested in hearing about it. Though flavours are rather difficult to describe...

But they've never been ignorant. They've always known what waited in the dark. It, too, is a natural part of the order of things, to an extent. Subject to the laws of nature. It's only been the last few centuries that have convinced modern man that he has banished the darkness and brought all monsters to heel. My brothers would disagree.

[fanglessone]

Perhaps we shall sit and discuss the merits of food and drink some time. Tis true that blood alone can sate my thirst, but still I have come to appreciate human dishes over the last few decades.

Woefully yet blissfully unaware may be a better term then ignorant. That primal fear of the dark, and of what it contains, has remained ingrained within their very nature, but tech and hubris has blinded most to the true dangers that lurk just out of sight...these "modern men and women" are ill equipped to face the truth, let alone to rally against those that would devour them.

[ingloriousdead]

Perhaps we shall. If this debate ever comes to an end, which I may suspect will not, for quite some time, at least.

So you would guard them from the shadows, rather than educate them? Slay the monsters yourself, rather than reveal their existence to the world and risk becoming the first to be slaughtered? An interesting stance. They can't remain children forever. Someday, they'll grow up. What will you do, then? When you can't save them from the horror of the truth?

[She is genuinely interested in his answer.]

[fanglessone]

Perhaps we shall.

No. I would prey upon the monsters that destroy so many lives and hunt those that slaughtered my beloved wife and children before my very eyes...those wolves that took everything from me and turned me into a monster as well. From the moment I awoke into this unending hell, trapped between life and death itself, I have dedicated every single moment to wiping those bloody monsters out of existence, if only to ensure that another family need not suffer as mine did.

Should mankind awaken to the realities of what awaits them, then all the better, but tis not my place to strip them of their innocence. For now I hunt, and bleed, and bear the pain so that they need not be stolen away without a fight.

[ingloriousdead]

Some might consider that noble. Do you truly act out of altruism, or is it revenge that keeps you going through centuries? A thirst for something you'll never have again? It's a dangerous path to walk, the one that's justified by good intentions.

[dusk_to_night]

Ain't that the fucking truth.

[ingloriousdead]

I've never really understood why it's feared as much as it is.

Still among the living, I see?

[dusk_to_night]

Everyone's different but the pain and suffering doesn't have much appeal.

...So far... Yeah. Hoping to stay that way for a while longer.

[rekindledtitan]

It does seem to be when things get the most interesting.

[ Or when you find out it's your fate to be reborn - repeatedly - into an endless war. Exciting stuff that. ]

[ingloriousdead]

[She frowns.] Why is it so many people associate dying with pain? It isn't always so. Often, it's easy. Just like slipping out of one's clothes at the end of the day. It's not full of suffering at all, and if there is suffering it's nothing compared to what life can bring.

Still, it does seem the preferable option, despite the many calamities life brings.

[ingloriousdead]

It isn't necessarily supposed to be interesting. It's supposed to be the end of one thing, the beginning of another. Though these days, there seems to be an abundance of people unwilling to let it be natural.

[dusk_to_night]

Probably just the reality? Cancer, car-wrecks, bullets, disease, earthquakes, heart failure... Most deaths aren't painless or peaceful. My deaths weren't. And then there's the whole 'unknown' and 'life was unfair and it's done already' aspect for people...

[She shrugs]

The common cold is annoying but having been dead? I kind of want to avoid it for as long as possible.

[rekindledtitan]

Seems like it's working fine by either measure.

[ With regard to the last part, though, she doesn't know how you judge. She frowns, then settles on just asking. ]

...What do you mean by natural?

[fanglessone]

Noble deeds hold quite the romantic ideal, yet it would be simpler to say that I...that my actions are far more rooted in instinct than any plans or designs for revenge. A wolf needs no justification for what it does, even it that wolf has chosen to prey upon others of it's kind. Such a thing is perhaps better left without explanation, a simple primal response should be sufficient reasoning enough for the time being.

[fruktansvard]

A different one at any rate. Everything is circular, after all.

[ingloriousdead]

Ah, but what sort of instinct would that be? Even a wolf who hunts only other wolves is considered an aberration. No, in my experience it's an instinct unique to those with your condition. A particularly human instinct, to protect others and save them from a similar fate. Something born out of self-loathing and the need to remind oneself that they are still, in fact, human. Only my opinion, of course.

What's your name?

[ingloriousdead]

You speak of what comes before. The events that lead to death itself. I have seen the moment come as a relief to many otherwise suffering, trapped in agony. As for the rest...that I can't argue with. There is a certain loss of possibility that makes it difficult to give up. But that, I think, many people suffer a thousand times over before they die. Every time one chooses to live a certain way, one makes choices they can't unmake. That's a different sort of death in itself.

What do you live for?

[ingloriousdead]

What's dead should stay dead. To think otherwise is to rail against the very order of the universe itself. Nothing good can come of it.

[She isn't trying to be offensive. To her, it's simply fact.]

[ingloriousdead]

Mm, perhaps I should say there must be death so that there may be life. Some animals die so that others have the means to live. Some human lives end so that others may begin. Whether or not there is a...universal recycling program, as I've heard it put...that isn't for me to say.

[rekindledtitan]

Hey now, I wouldn't say nothing. Sometimes you've got to pull stuff out of the scrapheap if you want anything to build with. People too.

[ She doesn't take it personally. Oh, she can see how the concept can apply to her, she just doesn't assume it's meant that way. ]

[fruktansvard]

Also true. [ A beat. He's well acquainted with death but in a very different way than her, as he may or may not find out. ] Does your statement come with a cause?

[fanglessone]

A human instinct, coming from a monster who longs for the days when he was but a man...such a thought, be it unlikely, is not easily dismissed, but self reflection has not been my strong suit. The feel of blood and bone are far more welcome then self loathing and doubts of the nature of one such as I.

My apologies for failing to properly introduce myself. I am John Francis Donne, and who might you be?

[dusk_to_night]

Yeah, it can be a release. But it comes with pain or sick. People can't separate them as two different things even if they are.

Right now? I'm living for the future. There's so much potential in being alive.

apologies for the delay!

[ingloriousdead]

You may call me Helen. It's a name that's served me well. And I truly do appreciate a being with some sense of appreciation for other viewpoints. I don't often get the chance to properly debate these things. Most people I see are less...open-minded. You have my thanks for your patience.

[ingloriousdead]

Living for the possibility of staying among the living. It's...an interesting bit of circular logic, if nothing else. Is death truly just something to be escaped from at all costs, to mortal eyes? I wonder, truly.

[ingloriousdead]

The parts, yes. Something of the essence. There is nothing in this world that has not begun as something else. But the soul, if you will, the very specific combination of things that makes one an individual...that begins to lose its meaning if it never truly has a chance of ending.

[ingloriousdead]

Confusion, perhaps. A desire to understand just what it is that drives people to such great lengths to avoid it. It's a necessary part of the world. And yet the more people realize that, the more they drive themselves beyond the very laws of nature to defy it. I don't understand. I don't know if I can. [She shrugs thin-boned shoulders, lifting her cigarette to her lips and inhaling deeply.]

[rekindledtitan]

[ Blaze tries, honestly. But after thinking it over, she has to admit defeat. ]

I, uh, don't you. Maybe I just wouldn't know about sticking around too long. But I don't think you need to worry about it. Everyone goes down eventually.

[dusk_to_night]

It is. It is to me at least.

I've died and I've been dead. I just... want to live for a while now.