Text;

[onerous]

What is it that keeps you living? Why? What makes it worth it to you?

[That’s, uh. That’s it. That’s the message. There’s no follow-up explanation or anything.

She’s just curious and doesn’t seem to see how alarming a question like that out of the blue might be]

Comments

[compagno]

I don't have any other option.

Text; font tags are a hassle bear with me

[onerous]

Don’t you?

[Dying isn’t a great option but it’s still an option]

i understand

[compagno]

No, not in the way you're thinking, anyway.

[onerous]

Can you not die?

[compagno]

That's right. So I don't have much of a say in the matter.

[onerous]

[She considers that a moment, but this brings up more questions] Isn't that a little lonely?

[compagno]

It can be.

[onerous]

Do you try to make many friends?

[compagno]

I've had friends, before. I try not to have regrets about their lifespans. It's about cherishing the time you do have, not wishing for more.

[onerous]

That's true, I guess. But you make it sound like you don't have any friends now.

[compagno]

I live with others. I don't know that we're all "friends," but their company isn't bad.

Well, and le Comte. But I think I'm more of a burden than a friend.

[onerous]

Are you just not interested in befriending them?

Sorry, I don't mean to pry. I'm just curious. I find it rather difficult to make friends myself sometimes. I don't like burdening others or making them worry. Though I suppose this question I've posed to the network hasn't done me any favors there. People get very worried when you talk about death too much...

[compagno]

Most of them will die eventually, too.

[ so it's not so much that he's uninterested as that he'll be sad )': ]

It's okay, I wouldn't have responded if I didn't anticipate talking about it. Humans have a hard time talking about death, but it's just as much a part of life as anything else.

[onerous]

They do say it's better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.

I think it's because we don't talk about it so much that people find it so scary. Well, part of the reason, anyhow.

Do you believe there's life after death?

[compagno]

If I say that I don't, will it upset you?

[onerous]

No, but our worlds might be different, that's all. I've seen proof of it in my world. Maybe it just doesn't exist in yours'.

[compagno]

Right - like your pictures, I remember. I don't think it works like that in my world.

[onerous]

I see, that's a bit of a shame.

Then again, maybe it does, and you just don't have the ability to see them. It's like that for most people in my world, anyhow.

Either way, I don't think it's wrong to not believe in something you can't see. [...For the most part, anyhow. When it comes to supernatural things.]

[compagno]

That could very well be.

The kind of life after death people are usually trying to convince me to believe in isn't usually full of spirits still wandering around Earth, though.