deernet | video ; un: echo

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video ; un: echo

[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.]

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[ 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.

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.

( 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?

[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...

[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.

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.

[ 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.

[ 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. ]

( 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?

[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"?

Feelings follow no reason except their own.

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

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.]

[She listens to him without moving much; it might have looked like the screen had frozen were it not for her blinking and the occasional tear. Objective has always been her default viewpoint, particularly when it comes to trying to understand something.

Echo then takes a few moments to think it over in silence.]

I believe so. It does seem to fit these feelings if I had to describe them with things I am familiar with. I am unsure of why it would change who you are as a person, however.

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

Would you say you're happy that someone who has left is safe, but also sad because you might not ever see that person again?

That we miss them and that can be sad at times.

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

[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.

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.

[ That's the expected answer, at least. It doesn't give her more of a clue as to why Echo's relationship with emotions is so.. odd, but still. ]

It's pretty normal. [ Ange therefore explains.

It's not like she's the person who has the best relationship with emotions ever, but she still seems to be at least a step ahead enough of the other to be able to say this much. ]

There's nothing strange about feeling that. I assume most people here would at least be upset to some degree if they couldn't see someone important to them anymore since they returned to the sea.

[ Ange sure is. All the time. She usually just tries to quickly shove it under the rug before anyone can see. ]

It sucks to deal with that, after all.

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.]

I'm not sure. I did not expect to see this person again before I came ashore here. I believe I had accepted that at the time, so a different emotion from a similar situation does not seem to make sense.

Hmm. That does make sense. I'm not sure why it is such a strong feeling, however. A bit would be reasonable.

...Perhaps? I have more often than not been apart from him, however.

Well, it's different for everyone. When it's someone really close to you, it gets stronger.

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