animus_network | 002

[It takes him all day to muster himself out of his bed to make this post in the dormitory levels. Had he not been slammed with a message about his new "job", he would have kindly stayed in his room for a day or two just to... he wasn't even sure what the right word was. He didn't need to relax. He needed to detox. His journey home had been short, but he hoped and prayed it was just a dream. Only a dream, please just let it be that. But he'd seen the barren landscape, inhaled the putrid, acidic smell of miasma leaking out of every crack and crevice, seas of purple mud and poison all that remained of his world.

Of course he wanted it to be a dream.

...]

Two questions. Feel free to answer or not.

First: How many of you have been back home? As in: how many have returned to what used to be their home, only to come back? What did you see, and did it... feel real?

[...]

Second: What are we left with if the worlds we all know are really gone? Is it just us, this Tower, countless years and a few grim expectations?

I really am starting to wonder.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I have, but I do not wish to describe it. I will say with utter certainty that it felt all too real, in a way beyond our senses alone.

But I do have faith in Dax's work, and in his assertion that he was not the only one working to find an end to this destruction. Though his colleagues are not as kind as he was, I believe it is at least in their best interests to halt this, for it must be more work on them, the larger this tower's population grows. As for reversing it, perhaps one of them will take it upon himself to attempt to continue Dax's work there as well. It may indeed take years, but it is years that we have, and failing the restoration of our worlds, we will find peace someday. Hardship always comes to an end, even if it seems endless.

*After all, Ruana was mortal too, right? Sure, even if lifespan is determined by their powers, she couldn't live forever.

...She had absorbed someone else's, though.

It's a good thing this is a text post, and Guy can't see Enoch's eyes widen at the thought.*

So patience just is a pretty massive virtue, basically.

I can't say I ever got to meet Dax or understand his intentions. Not ouside the group meeting back in the cafeteria, anyways. So I don't think I can say anything on that. But even while this tower grows, are we really sure that their best interest is to just stop it all together? And even if it is; what do you think that would that mean for the rest of us? I'd love to keep my hopes up. But I wouldn't put it past some of the people in charge to simply abandon us to the vultures.

I trust Zo to like having us here in a benign way, and for Ruana to want to keep her playthings. I also have faith in opportunity. We will have a chance to change our situation for the better, if we watch for it.

Faith...

I guess that's the better word, here, isn't it? To wait for a chance takes patience, which not everyone has at the same degree. To believe that a chance will ever come up in the first place...

Who knows. You gotta wonder which is more difficult in the end.

Hopelessness is a trying, tiring thing even as a temporary feeling. I should think it is the more difficult choice.

Hahaha, the third choice it is, then. I'd have to agree. To give room for hopelessness is pretty much allowing yourself to give up entirely.

You still have to be realistic. But who knows. Not everything around here can be faced as realistically as people would like.

Of course, hopefulness beyond reason is simply ignorance. But I've found there is rarely no reason at all for hope, in the end. I've lived through several moments where all seemed lost, and often found something that gave me hope. It was not always what I had thought I wanted beforehand, but it was hope, and it was what I needed.

If there is nothing definite to hope for, then there is the future.

That's a little bleak. But we are guaranteed at least that around here, aren't we? Even if we die, we still have a tomorrow waiting for us.

It's not something I'd enjoy putting hope in. But... you're right. You could say it's better than nothing. And who knows. Right now, that might be the little bit of hope we need.

The faith needed to hold onto that, I think, is just a different story entirely.

Those who can hold on longer should help those that cannot, in that case.

And all should hope that not even their faith will run dry. But only then will we be truly defeated. It sounds like less than it is - we are capable of many things.

Including unspeakable faith.

...

Thank you. You're very wise.

I only want to be able to help people see hope in a place like this. At times, hope is all I am able to give, I've learned.

And you do it rather well.

Again, thank you.

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