video ; un: echo

[individualized]

[Echo appears and immediately begins speaking. Her body language is mostly calm and collected, and her expression is an inquisitive one. This is notable due to the fact that she simultaneously has watery eyes with the occasional tear escaping down her cheeks. Her typical almost-monotonous voice does have a bit of a strain to it.]

Hello. I have another question.

Why would someone returning to the sea cause another person sadness? The knowledge that they are safe, content, and not... [Her lips tighten as she pauses.] ...not experiencing any troubles is entirely satisfactory. Particularly for an association that was previously thought to be certainly concluded.

[Echo shakes her head a bit.]

I do not understand it.

[After an awkward moment of silence, she gives a quick bow of her head.]

Comments

audio | un: sds

[fogsong]

[ this is something Sharon is dealing with herself right now and feels maybe she can offer insight even though it hurts ] Because you know it means you don’t get to talk to them anymore. You can’t touch them or hug them or lean on them when you need support.

They’re gone and… [ here her voice cracks with emotion ] they take a little bit of you with them when they leave.

[individualized]

[Echo takes a few moments to consider this silently.]

I find it odd, as that should have been the case before I found myself here. It could not be helped then as well, but it seemed like an acceptable outcome at the time. I don't know how this is any different...

[fogsong]

Maybe it’s more about the fact that they’re still out there somewhere but not with you?

video: un; rosestorm

[thunderingcourage]

Because it means having to tell them goodbye, and possibly not getting to see them again. It's not that we aren't happy for them, getting to go home. But it's sad because while there are a lot of awful things that happen here, there are really good things too.

[individualized]

[Echo frowns troubledly. She was very suspicious that the person in question had died before he came here, but she never actually got that information out of him. Not that she can talk having already gone before that, but still.]

Y...Yes. Home, or the sea. But having already gone through a parting with similar implications, I did not expect to find a second time troubling.

[thunderingcourage]

You're right that it's not as hard the second time, but it still hurts. Especially if it's someone that you love, just because you won't have the chance to be with them anymore, at least not while you're here.

[Makoto tries to smile softly.]

Sometimes it helps to talk about them to others though, and to share happy memories you have.

video | un: graham crackers

[possessum]

( The young man who turns on his own video feed to respond does so with a shy concern for the person who posted this message. Is she all right...? Though Peter has a bit of a teary look to him as well, wet eyes rimmed in dark circles like bruises. Still, she's... openly crying, isn't she...?

His brow knits; he'll address the question soon, but first, voiced softly— )

Are.... are you all right?

[individualized]

Yes.

[She answers quickly and simply, though nothing has really changed about her body language from the post. She's only been learning her emotions and what they actually mean for a few months, so she very well could be wrong here.]

I simply have a question.

[possessum]

( Peter's worriedly watching her for a few moments before he gives a soft sound and looks down at his hands. The question... He can answer it, though some part of him almost desperately wants to flinch away from it. He doesn't talk about things like this; he never has. It's... too hard. It hurts too much. It's so much safer to numb himself over, to spend his days half-lidded, to not say aloud the names of the people he's lost over time.

But when asked by a stranger with teary eyes... he can't just turn away. How to explain it, though? How to explain grief? )

I guess looking at it objectively, there's no like... point to being upset when people go back to the ocean, right?

( This place is different from Deerington. There, people just... vanished, back to their home worlds. Back to dangers. But here... people have the impulse to return to the ocean, and there seems to be... a sense of peace about it. He shouldn't mourn them all quite so hard, shouldn't think about them like they're dead, the way he's been doing. But... )

But I guess when someone's very close to you... the way you exist changes, when they're gone. Like— I don't feel like the same person I used to be. I miss them. And it makes me feel... really sad.

( The lump in his throat tightens and his voice falters a little. )

Does that... make sense?

( video | un: duckling )

[danserai]

[ yeah she doesn't quite get it either, though the gist is clear to her. ]

It's because we miss them, not the other way around. It's like an absence which can be felt.

[individualized]

[Echo thinks for a second, looking a bit confused.]

What is the other way around? And is it typical for that feeling to be "sad"?

video; un: ushiromiya

[entreats]

[ It hasn't been too difficult to assume that Echo is a little.. off in some ways. Sure, there was that encounter with that other Echo who wasn't Echo, but there's also stuff like this. Echo speaking in her usual montone way, yet obviously being upset.

(And with how she's been staying over at the Pandora house for a while now after the Clockhouse burning down, Ange can guess which disappearance Echo must be upset about in the first place.) ]

Are you.. not used to feeling this way?

[ With other people answering Echo's question more directly, Ange figures that she can - carefully, by her standards - ask this instead. ]

[individualized]

No.

[That's all the answer she needs, right?

Echo has felt guilty that she came ashore without Noise (who should not be acting the way that ghost did anymore), but this is different somehow. And it may not be common knowledge that Oz was literally the only positive relationship she had before Trench, nor is that something she would really consider at this point.]

voice; un: JustD

[distant_one]

Feelings follow no reason except their own.

It's okay to be sad even if you don't understand why.

[individualized]

...I suppose that is true. Typically I have found there is usually an explanation, however. For example, something you enjoy might make you "happy".

video; un: lady

[dohaeris]

[sansa's eyes are soft, her mouth twisted to one side.]

It does give me great comfort to remember my friends are only in the sea, but I still miss them. I know that they're safe, but I can't see them or talk to them.

It's all right, if you miss your friends. Everyone misses somebody.

[individualized]

[She gives a single, serious nod.]

True, I have been very concerned about someone who has been in the sea this whole time. But that has not made me feel like this.

voice; un: catsandmagic

[occultfan]

It's that sense of them not being here. Even though you know they might be okay, they still aren't with you.

[Weirdly enough this was something Ada was honestly use to in a sad way.]

[individualized]

[Due to Echo's own brief and limited experiences, she's not completely aware that Ada has done this multiple times before, no.]

Possibly. But it was quite normal to not be with them. This is only marginally different.

[Why are you being vague, she knows exactly who you're talking about...]

Video; un: darkness

[survivalthroughhate]

Love is based upon memory and without them near you can form no more memories with them. You slowly forget things: the exact sound of their voice, the way they smell, the irritating habit they have of never meaning what they say. This saddens people to feel.

[individualized]

I am not sure if "love" is the proper term.

[There's no signs of denial or being flustered.]

That...is a very sad outcome, though. Is it possible to not forget? For example, if you have written everything down?

[foulhussy]

Guess that's a good way of thinking about it.

[ And who knows what other worlds the souls of Sleepers might find themselves in eventually? Maybe better ones. But that's not the point. ]

It's... being alone, even though you need them. It's having to know that nobody will stay for you. And you have to live without something that made life worth living.

[individualized]

[She seems taken aback by this response.]

I...I do not think it was a conscious decision to leave. But can a person truly be that necessary to another?

[Not that the fact that she's getting more teary-eyed again isn't a sign that it's hit a mark she doesn't understand yet.]

video | un: ilikemeat

[velvet_teen]

[ Alice promptly responds with vigor and volume without gauging Echo's emotional state first. She's very self-centered, this is known. ]

Cram it! I'll be upset if I want to be upset! I like being with Oz, and I hate it whenever I can't do what I like! It's not hard to figure out!

[individualized]

[And she can very easily get on Echo's nerves despite them kind of getting along here, this is also known.

So after a moment where she has to gather herself by tightening her mouth and letting a few more tears spill over, she's ready to respond with her own attempt at volume.]

You are far more accustomed to not considering things completely! Nor was I speaking for you; I was concerned about the strangeness of my own feelings!