prismatica | .text | un: archangel

Seems like it, yeah.

Only "seems?"

I take it that you're also new to this planet?

More like two months or so. Everybody said attacks and stuff were the usual, but this month it's been more like nature going wild than the musicians going crazy like we had the month before.

I see.

I wish I could say more than that, but that's all I can really say. It's unfortunate that this is the state of things... I can only imagine how that's worn down on everyone's psyches.

Yeah, I can't imagine it's easy coming into this if you weren't really used to it.

[ He was kind of already trapped in another world, so he's jaded. ]

I think the last month was kind of a breather. The flowers and bees were pretty annoying, but it's not like we had to worry about people attacking us in the street or anything. Even the dreamweavers are more annoying than anything, they're not putting us in any real danger at least.

Don't dismiss what is still troublesome. Even though you did not physically suffer, it's still unfortunate to have to deal with it at all.

Still, to be honest, this world is far easier to live in than my own. But that doesn't mean that I still won't want better for everyone.

That's true. Flowers weren't really a big deal for me, I guess.

I know what you mean, though. I'm in the same boat, the place I was in before was a lot more limited than this.

Why's that?

Oh? Do you want to talk about it?

I kind of had something similar back home. Flowers coming out of my chest... it's hard to explain.

It's kind of a long story, but I was stuck somewhere virtual. So things were a lot more limited than they are here. We were forced to relive high school in a loop and the city was run by weird, featureless NPCs.

Were you distorted?

... that is quite difficult to understand. How did you get stuck in there?

That's a good way of putting it. The body I had there, and here, was more like an avatar. In the real world I look kinda different. I'm 30, for one thing.

That's even more ridiculous. An AI went rogue and created this world where people could "run away" from the pain of their lives in reality and essentially escape to this virtual alternative. You'd forget all about your old life and start a new one. All you had to do was listen to one of her songs on TV or the radio or whatever and you'd get told your wishes could come true in Mobius.

In my case, I happened to hear it on TV. Next thing I knew, I'd spent a few years stuck in a lie before I finally woke up.

[ ............... ]

But were you?

Were you happy?

[ That's the question, isn't it. ]

I can't say I wasn't. But I wasn't really me, either.

I'd be a lot more fucked up now if I hadn't spent a few years like that. But the dream turned into a nightmare and I couldn't go back.

Wasn't really you. It was a persona that she gave you, then?

Can I ask you how it became a nightmare? Because you started to distort? Because you went against a world that took away the pain of your life? Why did you want to return to a painful existence? Because the world you experienced wasn't what truly would make you happy?

Basically. Without my memories, I wasn't really me.

For the people who wanted to leave, we realized that a fake life was empty. People aren't really your friends if they're forced to like you, or even if you run away from your problems, you can't run forever, that kind of thing. And yeah, once we started going against things, the world itself was against us, so things were only getting worse before they could get better. It doesn't help that we were all stuck in high school, even the adults like me.

For me specifically... while my dream was to run away from my problems, it was another person's dream to make sure I never forgot them. I didn't have a choice -- even if I got grabbed and brainwashed again, she'd show up to make sure I couldn't forget. Compared to that, I didn't really have a choice but to stop running.

[ Archangel thinks that a person without their memories could become a better version of themselves. Those that say that it isn't really them is just being difficult. But he digresses.

In some ways, he recognizes that he's projecting. He finds the person that is spitting on the idea of being in a world without pain and suffering going against Archangel's ultimate goal for his world.

Humans are so incredibly ungrateful. They would rather live in a world with death and destruction than imagine what it would be like to be in a place where such agony need not be even... a threat! Even a concern! That they could always be with their loved ones without having to be fearful. Certainly... an honest death comes to everyone, but what of it? There may be sorrow from that passing, but until that time, there is actual and real happiness. A happiness that is preserved and held sacred.

He wants to smash something. He wants to destroy something.

Whining, whining, whining. Humans can only whine while they are part of the problems that continue to pollute and ruin the world. Why do the downtrodden and the weak believe that there is no way to escape their situation? Because the world tells them that it is impossible to escape it. That they can only endure and move past it and become stronger?

He grits his teeth. That's bullshit! It's just a way to perpetuate the constant pain that people are in! It's just a way to say that it's meaningful and unavoidable and other lies. Because people don't get to move past what they're really hurting from... they just live with it, and say that they've grown from the experience.... when they shouldn't have had to experience it at all.

He breathes out hard. This is why the common people can't be trusted to maintain and protect their own happiness. ]

[ He composes himself. ]

I see. That's how you viewed it.

I suppose that it only makes sense that the world would turn against you. You were disrupting the paradise that it was attempting to create for you, even if it was poorly executed. [ For one, the AI should have erased their memories as soon as they started showing deviancy. That was just sloppy. But that is what one gets when an inept creature is attempting to do "good." ]

Isn't that rather cruel, though? To wish that you can never run away from what you are suffering from? I can't say I understand the circumstances that you were struggling with, but I can't help but think that's a little unreasonable.

I don't mean that you need pretend that they have never happened, but well, I guess I shouldn't say anything since it's what you decided and you sound sure of yourself. [ If he didn't have to make "nice," if he didn't have to work at establishing positive relationships with people, he wouldn't have yielded even that much. ]

Edited 2020-06-01 19:36 (UTC)

[ Haha yep, there it is. He's the kind of guy who would program a girl like Mu, huh? ]

It didn't help that people started dying in the real world. Plus I seriously didn't want to have to redo high school again...

She wanted to be cruel, trust me. I think if she hadn't messed with me and just done her own thing, maybe things would have gone differently... but this person, her existence in Mobius revolved around making me miserable. That made me wake up, and things started to destabilize after that.

I know I'm past the thought of running, but it's taken me a while to get there.

[ Archie is the kind of guy that would become Mu if he could. ]

Why did they start dying? Was it because of the AI?

I see. What a funny connection that you have to someone else. It makes me think that you were in love with her, though.

[ And going to just ignore that last part, because whatever. ]

[ Those are great dreams, dude. Become a pop idol and brainwash people, that's the dream. ]

Yeah, I think it was from being stuck in the virtual world for too long. I mean, it put your real body in a coma to start with, but some people developed this disease called Astral Syndrome, and their organs started failing.

"Funny" is sure a word for it.... That might've been the case once, but it's really complicated. I don't think I could type it out.

[ It's like he's reading his mind. ]

[ The real dream. ]

I see. [ What a stupid fucking AI. Oh wait. ] Did that mean that they became permanent fixtures in the virtual world?

It seems something better talked about than typed out, anyway.

Like you said, it seems like you have a lot of troubles on your shoulders. I'm certain that there are others that also have troubles that come from their own world that they are not thinking on, too.

In the end, aren't we running away from our problems here because we don't take the time to talk about them? [ HI, HAVE YOU MET A CULT LEADER 'CAUSE YOU MIGHT BE MEETING A CULT LEADER NOW. ]

No, if you died in Mobius you'd die in real life. It worked the same way in reverse.

Right, stories like mine are probably pretty common here. I think it makes it easier to adapt to this stuff, personally.

[ WOW THIS CULT LEADER MAKES SOME SENSE.... ]

The first time I talked about it, I made myself sick. I'd shut myself away from the world for 13 years because of the shit I went through... if you really wanna know, I can tell you, but it's gonna take a bit for me to psych myself up, alright?

[ Archangel goes back to his original assessment. What a fucking inept AI. ]

I see. I can understand even more why you would want to return to reality. You wouldn't want to have spent your final days in such a place.

Of course. I'm not doing this because I desire to hear how you've suffered. I feel like we need to tell each other of the pain we've gone through. When the stories are only our own, we don't realize how sick we're getting by ourselves.

[ Archangel leaves a pause long enough for there to be a "feeling" that he is offering a warm, benevolent smile with his words.

Tick-tock-tick-tock. ]

Edited (don't look at me) 2020-06-02 03:38 (UTC)

I am Archangel.

And I'm happy to wait for you to be ready.

un: goinghome

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1/2 -- hi, tl;dr archie has a bit of a private temper tantrum

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1/3

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