<Snipped quote by Extra>
Okay, do you like visiting cemeteries?
Better option than a bar, but still not the best. What else is here?
<Snipped quote by Extra>
Okay, do you like visiting cemeteries?
<Snipped quote by Etcetera>
Quite the predicament. Again, then, how to create something with more lasting and undesirable consequences than death?
<Snipped quote by Etcetera>
Quite the predicament. Again, then, how to create something with more lasting and undesirable consequences than death?
<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>
Immortality. The curse of life.
<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>
<Snipped quote by Legend>
If everyone knew that inflicting death would bring about a new, terrible kind of life, perhaps they'd be more hesitant to wield it.
<Snipped quote by Memory>
Better option than a bar, but still not the best. What else is here?
<Snipped quote by Extra>
Animals? Produce? Shooting range?
<Snipped quote by Etcetera>
*I cock my head.*
Elaborate.
<Snipped quote by Memory>
Animals would be a good start.
<Snipped quote by Extra>
Okay, we can do that.
*Hops back over the fence and an elderly man chatting with his son take a moment to wave at us in the midst of enjoying a rocking chair on the porch of a relatively nearby house that faces a random angle from the current one*
<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>
We cannot simply wield the power of death to end the power of death. But instead, imagine a new society, with new rules. Those who end a story must carry its unfinished weight—its suffering, its responsibility, its purpose. A world where death anchors you to the life you robbed, and saps a piece of your soul to replace that which was lost. Forever carrying the burden of the vacuum you created, a permanent, living memorial of everything you destroyed. A world where death turns into a mercy, and mercy cannot be stolen.
*Scratches the back of my head with a smile*
But you also seem like the kind of person to prefer practical steps over a sermon.
<Snipped quote by Memory>
*stares a moment, then waves back as we leave*
<Snipped quote by Extra>
Those are the Rogers. A little slow, but nice enough people.
*As we walk, houses seem planted in almost random directions and at varying distances, with no main street to speak of, and many of which have extensive farmland*
<Snipped quote by Etcetera>
I am indeed such an individual.
I struggle to see that panning out in any way other than murderers making garish mockeries of their victims to their families.
<Snipped quote by Memory>
*notices the random placement*
Is this a recent village?
<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>
Then in straightforward terms, you end someone. You inherit their weakness, and their sufferings become yours to bear. They weigh on you, inescapably as you lose grasp of what makes you yourself. Kill the sick, and acquire their pain. Kill the fearful, and your choices haunt you. Kill a child and lose your emotional grip. Your every choice is second guessed. Your reactions slow, now bearing two lives' worth of intuitions. Your senses are overloaded but your mind clouded. You experience a tugging on your heart as you pass a hospital and realize you can't remember whether the faint memory belongs to you or to the one you adopted into yourself. Their dreams, values, visions, all made a piece of you. Every ordinary joy becomes an indictment. You live as an immortal tribute to a purpose that cannot be fulfilled.
*Clasps my hands behind my back*
And that is a fate worse than death. Not to mention the social consequences that would inevitably arise.
<Snipped quote by Etcetera>
Intriguing.
*I look to the side.*
It would require... expertise. And likely, on some level, a modification of the very nature of entropy. Such is, unfortunately, rather beyond my grasp.
<Snipped quote by Extra>
*Shakes my head*
It's been here for a long time. But it hasn't grown much and there's a lot of land here. No real reason for more order than that.
<Snipped quote by Memory>
Hm, that seems to fit. How lax and nice.
<Snipped quote by Extra>
*Waves my hand over in a hard right and starts jogging*
Come on, Mr. Ghail collects and raises animals that aren't from around here. He'll let us ride a few of them if we ask nicely.