NIETZSCHE; DEAD PHILOSOPHERS' INBOX

[explosivecombat]

[TEXT; LOCKED TO doitrockapella]

The offer for conversation is always open, should you desire to take me up on it; I can't guarantee that I'll respond immediately, nor will it necessarily be the response you want, but I'll always respond in some way.

In the name of enlightened discourse.

Comments

[explosivecombat]

I don't believe in fate on principle; I like to think we control our own destinies. At the same time, that doesn't mean that those destinies we're in control of don't intertwine in some rather interesting ways sometimes.

Why do you ask, if I may?

[doitrockapella]

I've been thinking about where I was at this time last year. Who I was with. How I've changed.

It'd give some kind of meaning to the time we spend here, wouldn't it, if we could say we came here because we were meant to meet someone here that we otherwise wouldn't anywhere else?

[explosivecombat]

If you're really wanting me to talk you out of that particular notion, I'm afraid I can't do that for you; I've wondered about that myself, actually.

[doitrockapella]

That's not the part I'm being sentimental about.

I was talking to someone recently about the magnet effect that seems to be a trend here. How people tend to arrive knowing each other in advance — too impressive a feat to be truly the result of chance, it seems, when some of the people involved are coming from worlds with over five billion inhabitants.

What do you think it is that brings people in that way? Simple longing? Or something else?

[explosivecombat]

I've discussed how odd that is with someone else before, though that wasn't quite the angle we approached it from. He pointed out that it was strange that we're all from from around the same period of time - or, rather, it's strange that I'm from the same period of time as the rest of them. This place often brings in people who are closely connected or who seem to have made an impression on one another, but if this world worked on strong associations alone, I would be seven years younger, which is when almost everyone else that was here from Amestris at the time knew me well - at present, most of them weren't even positive that I was still alive, nor had they thought about me in quite some time. I hadn't seen any of them in years; this person mentioned that it was strange that I was brought here from a point when most of my world's inhabitants weren't even aware of my continued existence, much less my whereabouts, and they would associate me with their memories they'd formed seven years ago.

Personally, I don't think it's a matter of longing, but a matter of timing; many people who are brought here seem to have been key witnesses or participants in events that greatly affected the lives of several people. One is all and all is one, remember - if enough lives are affected, the world will notice; sometimes it changes, sometimes it doesn't, but it does notice.

[doitrockapella]

The world will notice. That's the strangest part to contemplate — we talk about this place as though it has a mind of its own, or if not a mind then at least a will. Sometimes it seems as though it does, but other times I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with the implications that follow.

Making the world notice isn't something I've ever had much difficulty with. Not knowing how to effect a change when I want one...that's a newer experience.

[explosivecombat]

Is it strange? Really, I don't find it any stranger than the idea of God, which most people have little to no difficulty accepting or understanding. I won't go so far as to say the world has a soul or anything - that's pushing it, even for me - but the world does have a say in what happens where I'm from, as there are definite natural forces that govern what we do; alchemical rebounds wouldn't exist were it not for those forces keeping everything in balance.

As far as that goes, however, I don't think it's this world that brings people here through any will of its own - in my experience, those natural forces aren't nearly that involved unless they're required to be, and from what I understand Truth quite frankly doesn't care what we do so long as we're not upsetting the balance too terribly. The world is generally reactive, not proactive - what I'm saying is that I think whatever does bring us here may be focused on the marks people have left on their own worlds.

Of course, it's also possible that this world functions in a completely different way than my own. That would completely fail to surprise me, given everything else this place does.

[doitrockapella]

Do you think it's possible, then, that people are taken away from here because...for lack of a better way of phrasing it, their own worlds wanted them more? Or to try to put that in a sense that better reflects the world's supposed reactive nature...that the vacuum left behind by that person eventually grew abhorrent enough that the world snatched them back?

[explosivecombat]

I'd hate to think about what that would imply for those who are deceased in their world and sent back anyway.

[doitrockapella]

You mean that even in death, they were significant enough to the world that having them absent left behind a void that the world itself eventually refused to tolerate?

[explosivecombat]

That's the optimistic way of interpreting it.

[doitrockapella]

And the pessimistic one being, your world would rather see you dead at home than escaped and happy somewhere else?

[explosivecombat]

You have to admit it's a fair interpretation, given some of us here.

[doitrockapella]

You're suggesting the very world itself has it out for you, Nietzsche?

[explosivecombat]

Of course not.

I'm suggesting that I'll have to answer for what I've done eventually.

[doitrockapella]

So you're a fugitive from justice.

[explosivecombat]

I prefer to think of it as being granted a reprieve.

[doitrockapella]

I'm surprised you think you warrant one. Or would that be more along the lines of, if the universe has seen fit to grant you one, you're hardly about to argue its poor judgment?

[explosivecombat]

Oh, come now. It's definitely a case of the latter.

[doitrockapella]

I wanted you to come back.

When you left, that is. A few months back.

[explosivecombat]

I'm probably always going to tell you that I'm a terrible person to waste that sort of sentiment on, you know.

[doitrockapella]

And I'm arrogant enough a person to be wondering if it was my wanting that brought you back.

Mostly because if it worked once, that means it could work again.

[explosivecombat]

Is there something in particular that brought this on tonight?

[doitrockapella]

I did warn you I was being sentimental. The familiar sights of a nostalgic locale...

I remember where I was a year ago, this time of year. In comparison to where I am now, I'm not sure if it's been a change for the better.

[explosivecombat]

You realize I'm just going to ask you what you mean by that, if you're going to phrase it that way.

I'll indulge your sentimentality for now, should you want me to.