listen to your heart 😌

[parrygripp]

"Can You Handle Your Emotions?"

Emotions are... eh. We all have them, whether we want to or not. Some people have control over their emotions, and some people let their emotions control them. Where does your character fall on this spectrum? More importantly, what's their relationship with their emotions like? Do they bury everything deep, deep down inside, or are they the first one to cry over a sappy movie? Do they even know how they feel about what's going on inside? Pretty meta stuff.

• No blank top-levels.
• Instead, characters are to respond to the proposed question: can you handle your emotions? / are you in touch with your feelings?
• Get deep. Look within. Hear, think feel... or don't.

Comments

Miquella | Elden Ring | OTA

[agentlerplace]

Well, of course I've always been great with them! But, when I realized that they were one of the greatest handicaps a god could have, I decided to handle them in the best way possible:

I shrived them from my self.

[cadens_stella]

[ No words.

Only the most judgmental of stares. ]

[agentlerplace]

Oh, hello Tarnished. May I help you?

[cadens_stella]

Mm... Help me? No.

Though, perhaps you might help me understand how carving out such vital parts of yourself will allow you to succeed where you mother couldn't.

[agentlerplace]

Well, have you seen the Lands of Shadow, yet? The crusade brother Messmer was sent on? Have you seen the why of it yet? Connected it back to the Lands Between outside?

[cadens_stella]

I have.

[ Casually not commenting on Trina and all the body parts he left for them to find. Sir. ]

Your mother acted rashly over and over again in her rage and sorrow. You have chosen to go the opposite direction by ridding yourself of nigh everything. What will remain, my lord? They call you kindly Miquella... Will that still be true when you reach godhood?

[agentlerplace]

[All part of what needed to happen!]

Of course. The kindest thing I can do for this broken world is give everyone a fresh start; to erase old wounds and bring about a future bereft of the strife that has stolen so much from everyone. How I feel about it matters little, overall.

[cadens_stella]

I disagree.

It's a nice thought, but strife, grief, and hardship are a part of life, and not so easily erased. They shouldn't be. What is your power of persuasion but a mask of a greater, generations-long problem? What is... happiness if it is foisted on those around you?

Moreover... If you cannot feel and can no longer empathize, what good will you truly be to anyone? What then would give you the right to control the will of these lands over emotions you can no longer understand? What will you do to those who find a way to oppose you?

[agentlerplace]

I will embrace them, as well. No one shall be denied. I embrace all of it, all of them as they are, as they will be. But there is no need for the conflict anymore, the old biases and hatreds. A world where all know their neighbor and allow them to exist unharried... is that not a beautiful thing? A gentle thing?

I cannot have the emotions any longer because I cannot let my own scars, my own biases cloud my judgement. If I kept them, I may see things too differently, press a thumb onto the scales of balance and allow one to gain the kind of power that would allow them to oppress another, even if unintentionally. I cannot have that. Not again.

You're from the Underground, are you not? Would you and your people like to live in the sun, if so they chose? There will be nothing preventing it. Nor anything preventing them from staying where it is comfortable for them, under my rule. They can claim wherever they wish within the world as their own place.

[cadens_stella]

The cold of night under the shadow of a dark moon would be warmer still than false compassion. You needn't worry. My people will finally observe the splendor of the night sky with or without the intervention of an empyrean.

[ Nice try. ]

I want more than anything to believe in your cause, because it is beautiful and gentle. What is left of your compassion and warmth radiates even now, but those idealisms cannot carry us forever. Your scars, your past, your experiences... and your love are all a part of what would aid you in your reign. Yet you would shackle yourself to an existence bereft of feelings and risk imprisoning everyone left in these lands right along with you.

[ Why, yes. She has talked to Trina. ]

Perhaps, Miquella... what you've sacrificed was too great.

[ And also: fuck that noise. Permius, fetch your BOOMSTICK sword. ]

[agentlerplace]

You spoke to Trina.

[It's the sort of resigned tone of someone that feels an ages-old argument coming again.]

I fear I kept her sheltered from the horrors for too long. Even she could not understand; this is the sort of sacrifice that is necessary from me to become a god. And a new god, a new age, is necessary now. If I thought there was another way, another path to save this world, do you not think I would have taken it? I sought so many paths over the years. All ended in the pain continuing; either because they never worked, or because they led to a worse fate altogether. This was the only path that I discovered, where the most profound sacrifice was myself. Radahn is kind, beneath it all. He will make a goodly lord. And easing the pains of the past was a boon I did not expect of my Great Rune, but one I will carry into the future so those who know the charm can know true peace.

I only ask that you be embraced by it, as well.

[cadens_stella]

For what little she could muster, yes.

[ Honestly, it was all too depressing to warrant being angry, even if she is a little. It's just as depressing to see how desperate he is to follow through with this new age. ]

Never.

[ Her expression doesn't harden, though. If anything, the look she gives him in sympathetic. Sad, even. ]

Please know too that I will take no pleasure in fighting you and your freshly awakened consort. Sacrificing an unwitting omen as a means to an end I might understand if he was willing, but that was clearly not the case. Already, your new age is based upon control. Gently forcing others into submission, and thereby shackling them.

What is to become of you should the day come that your charm proves ineffective? My own people denied the Greater Will, created tools to save ourselves from it's influence and even committed a cardinal sin that caused our banishment underground.

This is... no different, Miquella.

What sort of outcry if it came to be that your charm could be repelled and your loyal followers woke up? While some might remain steadfast, the rest would be terrified and angry, causing a rift and eventual conflict. Would the world be so gentle then? I've already seen it firsthand with the small group that followed your footsteps through these lands.