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SOULIDARITY

Name
AGE / GENDER / HOMEWORLD

ABOUT YOU. ASPIRATIONS. ABILITIES. LOOKING FOR? FEARS. OCCUPATION. ISSUES WITH? MONSTER AFFINITIES IF ANY. ETC.

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		AGE / GENDER / HOMEWORLD
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		<p align="justify">ABOUT YOU. ASPIRATIONS. ABILITIES. LOOKING FOR? FEARS. OCCUPATION. ISSUES WITH? MONSTER AFFINITIES IF ANY. ETC.</p>
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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hello.

[He didn't actually expect anyone to respond to this...]

Greetings.

I take it you're a fellow skeptic judging from your bio.

Edited 2022-10-03 23:55 (UTC)

Difficult to imagine not being a little skeptical when faced with such circumstances.

Do your doubts extend beyond Soulidarity?

I doubt everything, the Hierarchy, the city proper and hell, even the world itself.

Until I find the answers I seek, I will continue to doubt everything I see before me.

Doubt for the sake of it won't get you far either. Some faith is required to truly understand. Who would volunteer their information to someone who distrusts everything around them?

Perhaps you're right but it's within my nature to doubt such absurdity.

Speak true, do you believe any of this is "real"? That we are indeed dead?

Edited 2022-10-04 00:43 (UTC)

[It's a little difficult to confront so openly, especially to a stranger, but the evidence- for now- does point toward one conclusion. The odds of their spoken death not being true would mean this whole world was built upon that lie. Seems much less likely, when laid out like that.

And his last memory, his last moment before this... It's possible.

Speak true indeed.]

Yes. I do.

[Somewhere in this vast city of twisted metal and cold stone, Augustine sighs. Unlike so many he has spoken with thus far, he doesn’t recall dying. In all honestly, he doesn’t remember anything. Every time he tries to remember the moment his world turned black, he just ends up giving himself a headache. It’s frustrating not knowing what happened but in some strange bizarre way—it’s a blessing. His faulty memory allows him to remain steadfast in his beliefs despite all signs pointing otherwise.

However, not many are afforded such luxuries.]

My condolences.

[He’s quite aware that the words of a mere stranger hold little weight here but someone needed to say it.]

[Viktor gives a quiet snort of dry amusement. He's heard condolences all his life.]

Have to admit, this is not what I presumed of the afterlife. I held no big expectations, but... the capitalism is a surprise.

[Regardless of whatever form of continuing existence anyone believed in, he really didn't expect needing housing. Or food.]

Death imitates life, I suppose. Although, I'm quite as dismayed as you are.

[Honestly, who would've guessed the afterlife would be anything like this? Certainly not him.]

This is why I cannot help but wonder if we're really are dead.

Is it the presence of an economic system that is cause for uncertainty, or the requirement of fulfilling basic needs?

[Because that's the part he's stuck on. But if hell was real, and this was it, then... well, anything goes, doesn't it? Needing to eat would cause scarcity, which in turn causes pain. Fitting for hell.]

Would you mind sharing where you think we are, then?

A little bit of both, actually.

[The fact that they still have to behave as if they're living even in the Afterlife honestly confuses him. It simply makes no sense, especially since the soul is supposed to become one with the earth once more. It's an old philosophy that transcends culture, nationality and even time itself.]

Purgatory. Or something likened to purgatory.

And we are to purge our souls here? Of what we consider our worst traits, past events? An interesting theory.

But a theory nonetheless.

Even so, I'm in the belief that many of us are still possibly alive until proven otherwise.

Without evidence, I suppose it is more of a "hunch."

For the sake of giving you accurate data, I confess I don't recall the moment of my death. I was extrapolating; there was a sudden feeling of intense heat, the sound of glass shattering, and a bright light. To wake up after that and told you're dead... I had assumed the worst. There may be legs to your "doubt everything" strategy.

I knew there was some merit to it but even so, I truly don't know what's happening here.

The more I wander through Stygia, the more questions I find myself asking. It's a shame the other Restless aren't very helpful in that regard. I'm referring the alleged "natives", of course.

The lost souls who wander the Barrens aren't very helpful at all but they will help themselves to your pockets.

I would not write the natives off. From what I have seen, they are tired. The atmosphere here is oppressive, and we all begin with nothing. Patience may be key in finding their more buried info.

As for those in the Barrens, all I can suggest is keep your possessions held tighter. Don't look like an easy mark.

Edited 2022-10-10 23:58 (UTC)

I suppose you’re right. It’s not fair of me to dismiss the Restless so causally without trying to understand their plight. Like you said, patience is key.

If someone like me is deemed as an easy mark, then I shudder to think who’s the latter. Nevertheless, I think I’ll keep taking the high road whenever I’m venturing though the Barrens.

Edited (just fixing the font!) 2022-10-11 12:23 (UTC)

Confident in your self-defense abilities?

How much traveling through the Barrens do you do? Enough to know more than one path, clearly.

Not particularly, I just know how to stay out of sight. Although, I wouldn't hesitate to break someone's bones at this point.

[Diplomacy has a time and place. Unfortunately, diplomacy is useless in the Barrens.]

Just enough to familiarize myself with it. I'm still in the process of exploring all of it but I'm tired of flying.