text; un: bad.apple

[laniidae]

[There are two things that will probably become immediately apparent once this post goes live on DeerNet: whoever's posting it is almost definitely using a voice-to-text function, and they are almost definitely having a Paleblood Truthiness Moment™ that's become so relatively commonplace this month.]

Do you know what this little trinket reminds me of? A magic mirror. My stepmother had one of those. She thought it could tell her the future if she asked questions of it, all visions and prophecies. She used to use it to spy on me. Watched my every move and jotted it all down so she could hand it over to my father's wizard. And of course everyone knew that mirror showed the future true, so anything she reported back, well, that must also have been true, hadn't it? She could just say she saw it in her mirror. Who would question it?

[The sarcasm is palpable.]

I wonder, though, how many people around these parts believe in that sort of thing. Prophecy, that is. Ever had one told about you? Someone you know, maybe? Did it come true, or was it all just fluff and superstition wrapped up in some pretty rhyming couplets?

I found my omen recently. It doesn't like its own shape much, and I can't say I do, either. Do you suppose it's trapped that way forever, regardless? Or do you think it can change?

[Here, too, there's a sense of hesitation, like the person posting isn't precisely sure how to end it — like a proper letter, or to just cut off, or what.]

Right, then.

[CW: Now with discussion of death in the comments!]

Comments

text; un: padlocks

[enblightened]

you know how i feel about the whole prophecy affair. i take it your mother did not actually have an enchanted mirror.

i do not know of an omen that had its shape changed. i suppose it is possible. what is it that you ended up with, if i may ask?

[laniidae]

Stepmother. Let's keep that very clear, shall we?

And no, I do think it was genuine, actually. It's not the veracity of the item that I doubt, just the credibility of the messenger. It suited her to be able to produce a laundry list of sins and transgressions of mine; citing to the mirror would only lend weight to the accusations.

It's a bird. A black bird with white markings.

text | timaeusTestified

[givehead]

Your stepmom sounds like a control freak. Seems like she didn't even know how to use control in her favor either.

Prophecies are head games and any fate can be changed with enough pressure applied. Prophecies might exist, but they should not be held to an unbreakable standard. Everything breaks. What doesn't break will splinter.

I believe your statement about your omen is a bit more revealing than you might have intended, jsyk.

[laniidae]

Sounds as though you're something of an expert in it. Tell me, then: how does one go about applying pressure to prophecy? I'm curious. Have you done it before?

And secondly, what do you think I didn't intend about my remark about my omen, hm?

text; @skywalker

[facultative]

There's a prophecy that some people think is about me.

I never believed it. I didn't like the idea that my life had already been decided.

[He still didn't believe in it, but for different reasons. How could he bring balance to the Force if he falls?]

I don't like my omen either.

[laniidae]

Do you ever catch yourself wondering whether they were right? Whether you want to believe it or not. Is there ever still that nagging doubt that maybe what you think doesn't really matter?

Mm. I suppose it'd make me a bit of a hypocrite, to ask after your omen without elaborating on mine, wouldn't it?

text; un: Lothrat

[ezra_of_lothal]

I have visions sometimes. As people with my sort of abilities where I'm from sometimes do.

They never turn out to be as simple as 'such and such thing will happen'.

My teachers had a saying that the future is always in motion.

[laniidae]

So what does that mean, exactly? You see a possibility that isn't set? A likelihood? The truth from a certain point of view, but maybe not the whole view altogether?

[text | un: inkmetal]

[inkedspell]

I went to a school with a Seer Council, the stuff they saw was always in flux. The more of them who saw the same thing, the more likely it was, but we could still affect the future and keep it from happening.

Nothing is set in stone until it happens.

[laniidae]

That does seem to be the prevailing take on it. And the reason for which prophecies are made at all, supposedly. To warn against coming calamity so that it can be averted before it strikes.

It begs the question, though. If it never comes to pass, how do you know for certain that it would've to begin with?

text; un: taka

[retsuden]

My closest friend at home and myself were called The Children of the Prophecy. We fulfilled a part of our destiny, but he refused to let fate completely dictate our lives. It took sacrifice to defy it, a great deal of it, but he was willing to lose anything to show me that we could carve our own path.

[laniidae]

Ah, back for more conversation practice, are we?

What path did you decide on? Not the one you were prophesied to take, certainly, but how did you work out what you wanted instead?

text; un: younghuman; private

[terriblepurpose]

Your stepmother sounds pleasant.

How do you define a prophecy for the sake of this discussion? Is it a prediction about the future, or a fixed outcome for it?

Is there something wrong with your omen?

private forever;

[laniidae]

More pleasant now that she's six feet under the dirt.

The difference being what, that a prediction has the possibility of not coming true, while a fixed outcome is guaranteed to?

I don't like the shape it took. I don't think it does, either. It's sort of smoky around the edges, like it's not quite set in its own shape. Or trying not to be set, at least.

[Text][UN:A_Wesker013]

[subject_013]

Educated guesses as to a strongly possible outcome among other possibilities, projected from what has gone before? Those are likely.

Heavy-handed statements of portent that have only one outcome and if that outcome does not come to pass, the one declaring it is either mistaken or

You've come to a world of new beginnings and second chances, my dear. You have the power to take back your story and write the next chapters.

And fear not this device. You're speaking other Sleepers who've been given the same chance.

[laniidae]

Let's get one thing straight, I'm not your dear.

Is that what you're here for, then? A fresh start to write yourself a whole set of new chapters?

Video; UN: Filledwithsunshine

[onebadapple]

I'm so sorry to hear about that with your stepmother. My stepmother was incredibly controlling as well. But she can't watch you here! That's good, isn't it?

[laniidae]

Oh, she hasn't watched me for a while. But she did enough when it mattered.

Why didn't yours like you?

text; un: figaro

[extinctive]

[ usually figaro would turn away from this kind of topics, but he could just put in his two cents about the subject. ]

That depends on the person and the world you come from. In my case, my mentors have the ability to see the future, and their prophecies are never wrong. "For it is futile to fight against fate," or so they say. I suppose the least you can do is to delay the prophecy, if the outcome is that bad.

Also, if it is all right to ask for a bit more detail, what does your father's wizard do, exactly?

[laniidae]

I have to admit I'm a bit surprised just how many seers and prophets people are acquainted with around here. I would've thought it'd be rarer, but it seems there's just one for every occasion, isn't there.

What does my father's wizard do? Ruins lives, mostly. Mine in particular.

text; un impala67

[venatoris]

Back home, there's a prophet that wrote out my whole ass life story in a publication of novels for the friggin' world to read.

Thankfully, he was a shitty writer so they didn't have a lot of traction, but it was still weird as hell.

[laniidae]

So, something like a bard, then. And not a particularly good one at that.

Is your life story particularly interesting, then? How so?

text: un; appariton

[unphase]

My mother and her foremothers have always believed that we Wazzo women had a destiny above and beyond those of others.

Frankly, I think it's a lot of shit, but we have tended to run things around our home planet. Not what I want, though, not that anyone asks about that.

[laniidae]

Oh, really? And what destiny was that, precisely?

un: tabris

[peripheries]

My fate was determined by those following ancient scrolls given to them by God. Or so they said. The funny thing about humans is how once they believe in a future, they take everything as a sign of the outcome they want.

[laniidae]

They certainly do. And if they can't find a sign, half the time they'll make one.

What did the scrolls say? Do you know?

text; un: shiro

[shiro2hero]

I don't think I can answer the prophecy thing, after... well. I was one of the people in the Dream, before this. I think my views are skewed at this point.

Can I ask what's wrong with your omen, though?

[laniidae]

The Dream? I don't think I've heard that mentioned yet. What is it?

It's the same as a nickname I was once given. It wasn't a very flattering nickname, either, so to have something that's supposed to be a reflection of me turn up with it feels a bit like mockery.

UN: GoldenFlowers

[the_obedient_servant]

Prophecies are fundamentally self-fulfilling and circular, provided it gets enough attention and enough people believe in it enough to act on it.

But there was one about me that I tried my hardest to fulfill and even died to make it come to fruition. It was only after I'd long since given up on it that I ended up fulfilling it anyway, completely unintentionally.

[Wait, why did they say that.]

[laniidae]

You must've felt strongly about it to die to make it come to fruition. Are you certain it was worth it?

Text; un: darkness

[survivalthroughhate]

I believe in prophecies but only when I'm the one having them. You can't believe anything unless you see it with your own eyes, and even then, you have to be careful. Seeing the future is like looking into a locked room lit by a single candle through the keyhole. You might glimpse something that is correct, but more often than not, all you're going to see is a lot that can be misinterpreted.

I've been cursed with a number of prophecies both back in my own galaxy and here. While most of them have come true, it wasn't always in the manner I was expecting. Sometimes I have been able to prevent them, other times I have not. In other words, being able to see the future is more trouble than it is worth, and I would discard the ability entirely if I could.

[laniidae]

Would you? You'd rather take things as they come without the benefit of that foresight?

text | un: P.G.

[possessum]

( The reply comes a week later than the initial message; it's literally taken him that much time to make the decision to answer. When it comes, it's nervously — a fact that fortunately isn't as obvious via text, but perhaps traces of it are still noticeable. )

No one ever did? Question it, I mean.

( This person's story is a horrific one, and it reminds Peter of things he hasn't quite been able to directly touch upon in himself. Not just yet. But maybe soon. Maybe now. )

I don't know how I feel about prophecies and stuff like that.
Apparently something was 'supposed' to happen to me
And I guess it did
But I don't know how much of that was coincidence or... something else

( "Fate" is a strange word, feels almost too fantastical to even write out. Or maybe it's that the shape of it scares him. )

It kind of all just sounds like a way to control people

[laniidae]

I questioned it, but that doesn't mean much, then, does it?

What do you mean, something was supposed to happen and you "guess" it did?

text; un: 3167

[lludw]

[Ah, text to speech. Thank whatever Pthumerian is behind it for that tool.]

Whether a prophecy is true or not, it just holds people back.

[laniidae]

And empowers others to act against them.

You sound as though you're speaking from experience.