This Mortal Coil

[grantuseyes]

Micolash is in the Nexus Plaza, thankfully looking cleaner and smelling better than the last time he'd been asking questions. The cage is still in place, of course; why would it not be? He even looks a little healthier! Not much, as his skin is still sallow and gaunt over angular bones and features. But at least not as unsteady and proportionally more alert as well.

He's not quick to ask a question, however. The scholar is instead on a sofa, long legs pulled up onto the seat with him and folded in front of him. The rest of the sofa, normally big enough to seat three, is piled with books. Easily two dozen, if not more. A glance at the covers that are visible will show a selection of possibly recognizable names: Erwin Schrödinger. Charles Hartshorne. René Descartes. David Ray Griffin. The one he has open on his knees right now is a collection of Thomas Aquinas' summae and related theories.

The scholar is content to immerse himself in this reading for hours on end, but eventually, he seems to recall where he is. And that he can ask questions if the fancy takes him.

"What do you think. Or believe. Happens after death?"

Getting RIGHT to the heavy stuff, it appears.

Comments

[chocolatechipbadass]

Tina's going to sit her petite tush on the far armrest of the sofa as it's one of the few surfaces not piled high with books. Rather than kick her feet or sing or any of the high energy antics she's wont to do, Tina simply watches Micolash speak.

"Aside from bein' used as tacky fashion statements, ornaments, or skag food, yeah thats about the sum of it."

Her gaze drops from meeting Micolash's own gaze.

"An it don't much care who it takes, neither."

[grantuseyes]

"No, it certainly does not. Death is as unpredictable as life. One really should be comfortable with the idea it could take them, or anyone else, in a moment's time." Cheerful stuff. But it's said with the kind of calm understanding one uses when commenting on possible weather. It just is and it's something you account for. That's all. A very Yharnamite sensibility, really.

"But again, that is just the body. Tell me, when you die, can you truly imagine all you are, all you know and believe and feel, everything you have become...simply. Vanishing? That the moment your heart stops and your brain quiets, all those thoughts and convictions, those experiences and ideals are gone? Only because a vessel of blood and bone has ceased function?"

[chocolatechipbadass]

"Sometimes I feel like it lets th'bad people live and takes out th'good way too much."

Here the little girl draws up one of her legs, bent at the knee, so she can lean on it and hug herself a little bit. Usually when they're talking about death, she can pretend they're only discussing the death of psychos and bandits. But right now, her thoughts are toward those she cares about most and those she's already lost.

"I don't....I don't know. no one's ever said much about it before."

[grantuseyes]

"Confirmation bias, most likely. You notice the deaths of those close or dear much more profoundly than the countless others surrounding you otherwise." Wow, is that supposed to be comforting? He is a scientist and teacher, one could suppose. He will always default to the practical and empirical explanations, perhaps he himself finding such comforting in its own way.

"What if I told you that said essence of departed beings does remain? It simply flies to another plane of reality beyond mortal sight?"

[chocolatechipbadass]

Tina doesn't expect much in the way of comfort at the very least. The world she's from doesn't have very many soft places to shelter a child. Even her own friends are mass murderers. She shrugs her scrawny shoulders.

"I guess that'd be good? But like what for? Because if it's like you're around but you gotta listen to Handsome Jack talk nonstop on loop forever an' ever an' ever then I'd say that's probably called hell."

[grantuseyes]

"I don't know who this Jack is, but the only voices I heard were that of Great Ones. The realms of death are simply the realms of beings who exist in spirit only. Taking on new shape, new form, to adapt to it. Some of it...may be punishment, yes. The Hunter's Nightmare exists for such, after all. But all the same, there are many, many, many other locations for a spirit to fly to. Countless, I'm sure. As many are there are souls to inhabit them."

Micolash smiles, propping the collar of his cage on his knees and his chin on that in turn. "So take solace in the fact that no one you have lost is lost forever. Nor entirely. They still exist in the realms beyond. Having a fresh adventure, most likely."

[chocolatechipbadass]

Truth be told, Tina doesn't really remember her parents very well. She's long ago forgotten their faces, blocked out their bloody deaths from her mind until all that's left is an ache that surfaces at times she doesn't understand--leaving her face wet and chest so tight she thinks the world will open up and swallow her whole before it goes away.

Losing Roland was worse. She remembers spending time with him. Remembers him looking after her. And the idea that he's still having some grand adventure somewhere rather than just buried at the original site of Santuary, his body turning to dust and skag food...

"He liked to help people." Tina offers after a quiet minute. "Lead a group of refugees and resistance fighters. Roland was a good man. He don' deserve nothing but the best. Another adventure sounds like something he'd like."

[grantuseyes]

"So long as he did not die lost to bloodlust, he is likely travelling as I said. I am not...entirely clear of what all can happen once we have fled our shells," he continues, opening up his arms to indicate the books surrounding him, the extent of his search for concrete answers and ideas.

"But I have seen options. With mine own eyes. So if all that is required for solace is that, though the body ends and rots, the spirit remains? That we are all eternal in our own ways and never lost completely? Then I can assure you that that is the case and your friend persists someplace beyond us now. I can promise you that, in fact."