[video]

[dreamspinning]

[as ever, only half of ushahin's face is visible on the screen. there is a raven perched on his shoulder, preening his hair, though he's paying the bird no mind at all]

It seems this place has seen fit to remind us of late of our struggles, our fears, and our losses. Some, I'm sure, bear more than others. But in the place of my birth, what separates Men from the other races is that they have been blessed with wit and desire in equal measure. Perhaps you are not Arahila's Children, not properly, but most of you are rather close enough.

So tell me, if you will, what it is towards which you strive.

Comments

[key_illusion]

[??? actually has to switch over to filtered audio express his complete disdain:]

Wow, that's a pretty bad--...actually, I don't even know what to call it, but not all humans are that stupid. I only know a small group of people like that, but they're not the good guys. Neither is he, but they're much worse and more tactical to boot. Not a lot of humans here are like that though. Some actually want to keep all the worlds from being destroyed, you know.

[dreamspinning]

[he laughs, and it's kind of delighted]

Not his ideas, little ghost. His manner. All that passion and righteousness and so very little forethought. Humans are not at all unclever, but they tangle in their passions. He cares more for the wrongs he perceives committed against him than a multitude of universes. That does not seem to be an entirely uncommon sentiment.

[key_illusion]

I guess. I'm probably the wrong person to be talking about how humans work. [Well, that's not really true.] I get how humans work on an individual scale, but he's a horrible example to talk about...Only because I seriously hate that guy because of how idiotic he is. I don't plan on letting him get away with trying to destroy this place because he's so obsessed with his powers and the fact that he's lost them. That's a pretty pathetic identity. I don't even get why he's likeable! Ugh...

[??? just dislikes Pyro even more since he's heard that Euri fancies him.]

[dreamspinning]

He is an example for the...steadfast nature of his beliefs. On an individual basis, most are more moderate. But men have done me and mine few favors in my lifetime, and I have watched their generations pass. It is not a slight, my comment to their passion. It will carry them farther than any others will go. Would that these directed theirs properly.

On the contrary, little ghost, you are a good conversation partner indeed.

[key_illusion]

...I can't see how I could be since different races in the worlds I know of aren't as distinct in their traits as yours.

[There's talking animals, faeries, mermaids, and an over-enthusiatic skeleton, etc, Ushahin. He's not really sure how generalized race traits work.]

I feel like it's hard to peg one species with what they may be strong in when you've traveled to many worlds. [Not to say he has.]

[dreamspinning]

Because you observe, of course.
Each of the races of Urulat were created by a different hand. They are each quite distinct in their abilities and values, although some things are rather universal.

The Men of this place are quite like Arahila's Children, for better and worse.

[key_illusion]

Maybe those are the kind of people the gods want.

[dreamspinning]

That would not surprise me. Who better to renew their world than the impassioned and clever?

[key_illusion]

Hah, yeah...Even if they're the ones who don't want to be here the most.

[He sighs, clearly remembering a certain someone. It all sounds like him, really.]

Do you miss Lea?

[dreamspinning]

...

I do, yes.

[key_illusion]

...I do too. [Along with Roxas.]

[dreamspinning]

He chafed beneath the weight of this place, and yet...

[ushahin would have him back, and gladly]

[key_illusion]

Yeah, he really didn't like it. [He's not sure if he'd wish him back. Probably not. Only briefly, maybe. Just to say sorry and how much he messed up.]

He has other important things to get to. He promised his best friend that they'd meet again, after all.

[dreamspinning]

He did not. I am simply not an entirely unselfish creature.

Then I'm sure they shall.

[key_illusion]

Right... [There's a weary note in his voice only because he won't be able to see Lea again even if he was returned home. It's a horrible situation.]

What do you do when you can't apologize to a person who's gone?

[dreamspinning]

There are always things that will go unsaid, little ghost, no matter how much we may wish it otherwise.

[he pauses for a moment, takes a long, slow blink]

If it is absolution you seek, he would have forgiven you anything. I cannot tell you what he knew or did not know, but in the end, he would have forgiven it.

[key_illusion]

But I'm not--! [...Roxas. But at the same time, he is. At least, Roxas makes up who he is, but it still comes down to his identity problems.]

I just....still don't get why he tried to keep doing that. Trying to be friends with me. He had Roxas, and I didn't need to be in the picture-- it would be better for him if I wasn't in the picture! So I don't get it...

[dreamspinning]

He did not consider you two the same. You are and yet are not this person who is so important to him. Of course he did not want you to suffer and be alone. What is 'better' is a matter of opinion, little ghost, and hardly significant in the face of what exists.

[key_illusion]

He still shouldn't have bothered. [Even if it started to work out at the very end.] It's not like he can change something like that.

[Suffering and being alone. It's all programmed into him, and he can't stop it.] In the end, he became hurt too.

[dreamspinning]

Lea never seemed to care much for the concept of inevitability.

Perhaps, but he is your own personal hurt, earned freely and not simply bestowed by circumstance. A hurt earned in living.

[key_illusion]

Earned freely? That's not correct. [Because he hurt with and without Lea around thanks to Roxas' memories. Another thing written into him and how he was meant to be.]

Whatever...Even if I wanted to be friends with Lea, there's still something in me that rejects him. He left right after I thought I was starting to get by that a little bit.

[dreamspinning]

Do you believe you only miss him because of your other?

[ushahin doesn't, but it's phrased as a genuine question]

Mm. Is that a part of how you were made?

[key_illusion]

...I doubt I would care if it wasn't because of him. Lea wouldn't care either.

[There's a long pause, then:]

Yes. I was never meant to Lea either, so that doesn't help things.

[dreamspinning]

I don't know, little ghost. There were a great many things Lea cared nothing for, but perhaps you deny both you and him a bit of credit. The circumstances that bring things together do not necessarily deserve all of the credit for what results.