♪ thirteenth hymn. [action/voice]

[seleniahymn]

[Yet another experiment come and gone, and whether it was a terrible one altogether was yet to be decided. It had certainly started terribly, but some of the things she witnessed later on seemed to nullify that initial annoyance. Yet the way it had ended toward the tail end left her once again pondering one particular question which she had long been wanting to ask of several people. But why not ask everyone instead? The more insight, the better.]

'We all go home one day.' That is knowledge that we are all told and all witness, and for that reason there are some of us who abjectly refuse to establish our mark in the village.

Why is that? Is it really so wrong to make the best of the time we have here? I understand why some would hesitate, but if there was nothing barring you from doing so, would you still attempt to make a sort of difference? The way we live here can be seen as no different from our own homes, thinking about it. We simply live.

[After receiving and answering to responses, Tear will be making her way through the village almost aimlessly, visiting friends and reading books from the library as usual. But as always, afternoons would be spent walking alongside the river until she would eventually reach the cherry tree toward the north of the village before eventually retiring to her home.]

Comments

[voice]

[notquiteheartless]

Because it takes effort to leave a trace of one's existence. Whether here or in the world.

People have the same excuse when they aren't here. "Well, I'll die." So they don't do anything. Except maybe breed.

The ones who really do things are the ones who think "I'll die someday, but they will remember who I was."

Unfortunately, most people are highly opposed to putting forth any kind of proper effort into anything. Boring. Simple minds that cannot grasp anything beyond themselves, and even that may elude them fully.

[...So nice, Sherlock.]

[voice]

[seleniahymn]

[It wasn't the most thoughtful delivery, but she appreciated the honesty nonetheless. In a way, his reasoning had begun to match up to her thoughts about it.]

It does take effort to leave that mark, even if it may be a selfish one. But which one of the two is more 'boring,' as you say?

voice;

[gleamed]

[You know who agrees with this? This girl.]

I think some people are afraid. That if they get too close to people here, those friends will be hurt when they leave. [Which...has some merit to it. Rapunzel has seen a number of friends leave in recent weeks, and it did hurt.] But I don't think that means we shouldn't make the most of it!

voice;

[seleniahymn]

I don't think it does either. [It lifted her spirits a little to hear that there was someone who seemed to agree for the most part, even if she too understood the pains of having friends return to their homes.]

But what would you say is making the most out of our time here? If you don't mind my asking, I would like to hear about it.

[Voice/Filtered 100%]

[eyesofstrength]

Those who feel that way may feel that there is little point in establishing any mark here. We won't remember it when we go home and those here will not remember it when they go home. Since we all will go home someday, we all will forget someday as well.

[Voice/Filtered 100%]

[seleniahymn]

Yes, and I understand that. But is it honestly so different to what we would have to live with in our own homes? Every day some are faced with the uncertainty of the future, where nothing is guaranteed.

[Action]

[distressedude]

[This morning, that mysterious lingering shift that had affected Ion and Anise finally seemed to wear off. And no doubt the whole house became very aware of that fact, given the morning essentially started with a scream and the both of them quickly trying to get as far away from one another as possible. For now. Especially after everything that happened between them, he knows he can't let things stew for too long. But with everything else that happened this month, he's not quite ready to deal with things just yet.]

[And that's why he'll be sitting under the shade of the cherry tree when Tear eventually makes her way there, knees pulled up to his chest and eyes staring at nothing in particular. He won't notice her right away, but when he does he looks up with a small and rather forced smile.] ...hello, Tear.

[Action]

[seleniahymn]

[Tear had not been expecting to find Ion in a place she haunted so frequently, but with what had happened earlier that morning it was of little surprise. She had experienced that sense of heartbreak twice before, though she had been so much more fortunate because those two men were not people she genuinely loved in that sense. But it was so much more different for Ion.

She cannot bring herself to fully return that forced smile, but the melodist will come closer to him with her gaze cast downward, giving him a better sense of privacy if he wished it.] Do you mind if I join you, Fon Master?

[Voice]

[unseenspy]

There's no point in trying to make anything of our time here, because we'll just lose it when we get home. That, and we just don't belong here.

Who knows, if people actually devoted their time into searching for a way out of here instead of throwing parties all the time, we might actually be home by now.

What the hell are these people celebrating anyway?

[Yeah, this subject pisses him off more than anything.]

[Voice]

[seleniahymn]

Would you say the same of the parties thrown in your world? [Her voice is neutral and calm, but there is nonetheless the slightest hint of anger inside her even though she could understand the reasoning behind his answer. For some people of the village, this was all they had.]

[ voice ]

[kyknus]

It's not wrong, but that's not what everyone will want either. However someone chooses to deal with it I don't think there is a method that is more in the right.

[ voice ]

[seleniahymn]

Then why is it that some people insist that there is a wrong way and a right way about how we choose to use our time here? [Score knows she's heard those arguments over the network.]

[Voice]

[geniustheveil]

I think we have to understand we live here for now; but I don't want to start forgetting I really belong at home. I don't want to stop looking for the way back, or thinking of the people waiting for me. I think if we start to focus on being here instead, we might start to give up on that.

[Voice]

[seleniahymn]

And you shouldn't forget. [Even if what was going back home was painful, it was where they were all needed. Not to mention that she had heard once before that their stay here was hurting their homes...]

... But what of the people who are unable to return?

[voice]

[trollkiller]

I think people should do whatever the hell they want. It's not everyone's aim to leave a mark wherever they go. [Orphen was the kind of person who usually couldn't even if he wanted to, so he never thought about things like that. Still...] But you're right. It's not wrong to want to make the best of things. It's not like you just stop living because you're here.

[voice]

[seleniahymn]

Are you perhaps suggesting that no one argue with a person's decision of what they do? [It was an easy thing to say, though not so much follow.]

[silversnowfall]

There are likely those who believe that learning to find a "home" in this place will pull them further away from the one they already have.

[seleniahymn]

And I do believe that is a legitimate worry... But should that fear really be allowed to govern our time here? [Nephry could probably guess at a few reasons why she asked, some of them may even be mutual. But for all its faults, this village had granted them opportunities they never would have had in Auldrant.]

[voice]

[fierybluebird]

I'm with you on this. We all die someday too, that doesn't mean we stop living until then, eh.

[voice]

[seleniahymn]

No, it doesn't mean that at all. [Thus she smiles, even if there is a hint of restraint to it.]

You truly agree with all of it?

[voice]

[falenandawn]

The time we have now is just as valuable as it is when we return, regardless of if we remember it. I do not think making the most of our time here is wrong.

[No... honestly, he felt it saddening, to not wish to make use of their time here.]

[voice]

[seleniahymn]

[She hadn't expected Freyjadour to reply, though perhaps it had been foolish not to. He had gone home once before, hadn't he?]

Have you always believed that?

[video]

[grapecape]

In life as a whole, "we all die one day", and yet the common wisdom is to make the most of life. Here, we are told that we may exist here for months to years, and return home with no memory of our stay - an end similar to death, but somehow it is not regarded as such.

I would imagine that it is the timeframe involved. Such a short time can be compared to a brief trip or vacation, and seems too insignificant to consider as a "life" to be lived out.

[video]

[seleniahymn]

[As a vacation... That was certainly one way to put it, even if many would complain about how this was hardly an ideal rest.]

But those comparisons you draw it to would still hold value to them. After all, do people not take such trips with a purpose in mind?

voice;

[trashed]

What's the point? You lose it all in the end, anyway. Either here or at home, it's all pointless.

[You really shouldn't be surprised, here.]

voice;

[seleniahymn]

[And she isn't, though what she was surprised at was that Sync had replied at all.]

And there is little that will change your mind about that, isn't there?

[Voice]

[knightofratatosk]

I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to make the best of it at all. Even if we don't remember it when we go home, that doesn't make everything we did here just disappear. It's all still things that happened to us.

[Voice]

[seleniahymn]

And it is still people who are left behind, isn't it? [She knows all too well that she should remember you Emil, even if she can't no matter how hard she tries.]