[Video] Look, even more people to help!

[hugs_for_nugs]

[The video feed showed mostly just...a hat. A big hat with a metal cap and a floppy brim.]

Hello! I'm Cole!

[He sounded very pleased with himself and the hat turned as he looked at someone off camera.]

Did I do it right?

[A faint voice said "yes" in response. He looked back at the camera. The view was still mostly hat.]

I think I'll like this place. I'm here to help! I hope I can help.

Comments

[youfool]

Heh, truth, I find, is often like that to fallen creatures as we are. It will lead to happiness, true joy, but not at first. It usually has to destroy a lesser happiness, typically built on falsehood, to start. Like childbearing, really, though a mother could tell you more about that.

People here are...very satisfied with themselves, I find. I've seen very many things here, but broken hearts and contrite spirits...not often enough. And without those two things; without sorrow, without knowledge of sin, especially one's own, people will never have true joy.

[He considers] He wanted the past? I'm not sure how much truth there is in that. Truer than the future, I suppose, which has never happened. I suppose it'd be more accurate to say I want...eternity. All time sort of bundled into the present. Moments pass through us like a sieve, but if we could be solid...

Haha, sorry I'm probably sounding very strange. Doubtless one named "compassion" might not see much use in the gift of sorrow.

[hugs_for_nugs]

But how can you know. [Cole lowered his arms so he could look more directly at the phone.]

Most of the time, I can know, I can feel their pain. They hide it, they smile and work and they don't talk when they should, when they want to. I can't feel as much anymore but I still feel! I know there are those that hurt here. They carry old hurts and new hurts.

[He shook his head again, distressed.] I don't understand. Everyone feels sorrow. He feels sorrow for what he must do to bring it all back. She feels sorrow for what he's done and what he will do.

[youfool]

Hmm? Know what? A question of epistemology?

Well, that's one kind of sadness. The one from without, I mean. That's common. But the one from within; feeling sorrow for who one is, as distinct and woefully separate from who they ought to be. The kind that leads to repentance and breaks pride...that kind's all too rare. Sorrow would be the seed for that, then, but it's one that, if it exists, I can't detect.

[hugs_for_nugs]

Know they do not feel that? Either the sorrow I spoke of or the sadness you speak of. That kind of sadness is hard to fix. [Cole sounded like how a kicked puppy looked.]

Why use sorrow to heal? You can not help without it? There are more ways to help than to cause harm.

[youfool]

Hmm, you think being privy to its fruits would be something of a rarity? I'd have to disagree; I've been here for some time, and...I haven't seen anyone find the Way. It's really too tragic; you'd think a brand new world might have some spiritual revolution to go with it. Alas. Well, yes, it is hard to fix, but it does set one towards the cure. It's often the only way to know one needs a cure at all. That's what I mean; the feeling is one thing, unpleasant as it is, but the knowledge at its root is vital. Without that...I doubt there can be any reconciliation.

Hah, I thought Compassion wouldn't like it. Suppose that's natural. I'm not saying kindness isn't the truth, but...it's a tyrannical truth. It's usurped all its brothers and sisters, at least in this world, and now stands alone. In that way it's become quite intolerable. Did you never find such an occurrence in your world? One or two singular truths ruling at the expense of all the others?

[hugs_for_nugs]

[Cole took a while to process all that and when it all finally clicked, he let out a low sound of distress, looking even more wilted and sad than usual. He was about to reply when the camera was snatched from his hands in a blur of movement. The voice from offscreen earlier decided to announce her appearance!]


[OOC: Alleyana Lavellan has grabbed the phone and will answer this pose. She is momma bear.]

[inquisitor_lavellan]

[The face that came on-screen now was scarred and worn, with a nose that had been broken a half-dozen times and never set quite right. Her eyes were a cold, dark blue, and there was a lot of steel grey in her hair.]

"'My cult is better than your cult'," Alleyana said with a sneer that did nothing for her appearance, "I've heard it a thousand times. You want to break people down, make them hate themselves, and then then lead them on the path to spiritual enlightenment? And you're the only one who sees it, of course, who Knows the Truth? What do you think you are, some kind of holy prophet? Give me a break."

[youfool]

"Hah, I wouldn't recommend it; your countenance looks like it's taken enough breaks as it is. What's your name?" [It wasn't said like a wisecrack; these things just came out.]

[inquisitor_lavellan]

[Alleyana just stared for a moment, thoroughly unimpressed.]

Irrelevant. I'm not here to make small-talk. You were extolling spiritual self-loathing at a spirit of compassion. Flog yourself with your own self-righteous beliefs all you want; tell yourself you're the only one who sees 'the Way'; pat yourself on the back all day long. I don't care. But you're going to leave Cole out of it.

[youfool]

"Goodness, if one's name is small-talk, the big-talk must be very large indeed. Whatever am I to call you? What's your relation to a...spirit of compassion, anyway?"

[inquisitor_lavellan]

I am his friend, though you will find little of what he embodies within me.

Case in point,

[Alleyana hung up.]