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.

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]

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?

[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.

[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.

[facultative]

They can't be right, but I know what I want doesn't matter. I don't deserve it.

You don't have to talk about it. Neither of us do.

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]

Pushed onto you whether you like it or not, eh? In my experience, that's usually a sign that it's convenient for someone else. Usually the ones doing the pushing.

Oh, it's THAT bad, is it?

[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?

[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?

[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?

[ezra_of_lothal]

Any and all of the above. I've had visions of things that did end up happening, but the context wasn't what I expected. I've had visions that showed me multiple possible paths and I had to figure out what to do with that information.

[retsuden]

You've proven to be one of the more helpful and interesting people to come out of that endeavor.

I don't know that I was the one who made any decisions. He chose to stop the cycle of hatred we were supposed to fulfill and convinced me that he had the ability to unite the shinobi world through love instead of fear. It took nearly dying for me to see it his way. I probably would've done anything to make him shut up at that point.

[ That was likely supposed to be a joke at the end there. ]

[enblightened]

yes of course. my mistake.

it seemed the most likely thing, i reckoned. more of a manipulator who asserted her power than a genuine artifact. i am sorry.

i fear to say your description is not particularly specific as that is for many a bird. why does it bother you?

[laniidae]

It's an easy mistake to make. I don't fault you for it, don't worry.

The name of the bird is the same as a nickname I was once given. It's fitting, but I'm not very fond of it.

[laniidae]

And just to be clear, that's something you've always done? Not just something you've acquired since finding yourself here.

[laniidae]

Sorry state of the world we're in, when I'M one of the more helpful and interesting.

What I meant was, now that you're not serving out the destiny you were supposed to have, what have you decided to do with yourself now? Now that you're no longer one half of the cycle. Are you just following his dream, with no designs of your own?

[ezra_of_lothal]

Always. I've had dreams that came true in usually mundane ways for as long as I remember. And waking visions since I was 14.

Where I'm from, we call it Force sensitivity. Strong sensitivity is rare, but if you have it, some form of prescience is a common way for it to manifest, even if it's just reacting to things faster because you're actually reacting to things slightly before they happen.

[enblightened]

are you going to make me guess what kind of bird it is? i suppose i could make a list, i know a few

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?

[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.

[retsuden]

Do people usually find you to be the opposite?

Oh.

I protect him and his dream. My own aren't of any consequence.