STAGE 02 - [text]

[lastnerv]

hi its shinji again

you might remember me from that network post a couple months ago where i

well i wasnt in the best state but thats not what im here to talk about (im also not here to talk about this agonizing bus ride im stuck on without my headphones seriously why is american public transit the worst in every reality anyway uh)

[Unseen here is the five minute pause where Shinji had to consider if he really wanted to talk about this in public, but Hell, there's someone from his world here already. It's not like he can control what people find out anymore.]

there are probably a lot of people here from worlds where theres more sapient species on earth than just humans, right? i know for a fact theres worlds were elves and dragons and stuff are real at least

how does that work? is it possible for two species to co-exist in peace like that? even if one of them seems monstrous?

in my world there was another species too (well kind of another species but not really long story) and in the end there could only be one of us left. we just couldnt share the earth. maybe because there was only supposed to be one to begin with

i guess what im asking is

could it have been different?

Comments

voice;

[23wishes]

... Probably not.

My world had humans, Cetra, and whatever my friend Nanaki was, and by the time I was born, there was only one or two left of them, and millions of humans.

I want to believe humans have it in them to change, but kindness to people not like them doesn't seem to come easily.

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[lastnerv]

[Shit. He forgot about Aerith's situation. Now he feels like an insensitive dick.]

oh right

i feel like i have to believe that and that before was just what had to happen but i dont know

what was nanaki? if you dont mind me asking i mean

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[earnedmystripes]

monstrous how?

[Kotetsu might have some uh, Baggage about that word. After all, in the earlier days with his power, when he was young, it's not like he hadn't heard that kind of thing applied to him, and he was human.]

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[lastnerv]

like uh

a lot of them were 20+ feet tall and shot laser beams

enough to fit what people might think of as a giant city-attacking monster

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[monge]

humans normally can't see us
so it made living with them very easy
humans dont get mad if they can't see you!!!

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[lastnerv]

i guess thats one way to do it yeah

what do you think would happen if that wasn't the case though?

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[protects_the_small]

I don't know about elves, but dragons exist where i come from. They don't live in the mortal realm, though, they have their own. Other Immortals live alongside humans....more or less peacefully, depending.

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[lastnerv]

they have their own world huh? that probably makes it easier

depending on what, exactly?

( text )

[sidequestings]

[ hoo boy does mahanon have A Lot To Say about this subject, but this poor guy also doesn't deserve his salt.. so it takes him a little while to word and re-word what he wants to say. ]

Where I'm from, living together with other races can be pretty challenging at times.
My people don't exactly contribute to making things easier, but a lot of clans have been so afraid of humans for so long that they just don't want anything to do with them anymore. It means that there are a lot of misconceptions about us.

As for dragons, they're essentially just very large, dangerous animals. I personally prefer to leave them alone unless they start to have a particularly negative effect on the environment around them.

[ attempt at neutrality successful, he thinks. ]

[lastnerv]

[Shinji reads over this a couple of times. There's a lot he feels he isn't getting, and he's bored which means he's not above being nosy.]

so what happened between humans and your kind to make things like that to begin with? or was it anything in particular at all? (my experience is that humans dont need an excuse to make things difficult)

[ofgoldenfoil]

[ oh boy another texting exercise that actually takes Aurican's attention for once. ]

I lived with dragons and we ate the bats that come in through the caves. Maybe there are more life than we expected outside our home. We never went through the Darkness Beyond to see.

[lastnerv]

huh thats definitely a new one to me

wait

are you saying you never left the caves?

[resipiscent]

In the universe I came from, there were a lot of different species, I think

[At least, Mickey Mouse is certainly not a human.]

We had conflict, but it wasn't between groups like that. I think, even if it's not humans against whoever else, then there's something else
Sentient beings seem incapable of not fighting over something

So I guess I don't think it could have been different, even though I don't want to have to say that

[lastnerv]

thats exactly what im worried about

but maybe we just got unlucky with our worlds

as is usually the case

text; anon

[gainedlove]

[At first, it was going to be Frisk to reply. It's a subject that is rather important for them, after all, and Shinji had already seen the monster self that they'd been given. But then...he goes and uses language like that.] ['Monstrous'. Like it's a bad thing. Like it's a given that to be a monster is to be a horrible, disgusting thing.] [Frisk isn't really given a choice in this matter. At least Chara does remember to hit anon first.] you should consider your choice of words more carefully. you might insult someone that you are trying oh so very hard to please! but then again, humans do not ever think of things outside of their own perspective, do they? =)

[lastnerv]

[Thought #1: who the hell is this?

thought #2: wait did I say something unintentionally offensive shit better go read my post five times

that might be it]

oh sorry

i didnt mean monstrous in like a bad way just that i really dont know how else to describe them other than "giant" and "they all looked different from one another and not really like humans or animals"

maybe there's a better word for it?

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[hooffaceturn]

In Equestria there were countless species that coexisted on the same planet, but we tended to just keep to our own communities. I'm not sure if things have changed...

But I think it's possible to live together as a community. I mean, Earth, Pegasus, and Unicorn ponies didn't always see eye to eye because of our differences.

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[lastnerv]

[Shinji stares at this text for a few incredulous seconds.]

ponies

like

small horses?

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[governorkang]

It depends on your definition of co-existence and peace. There are many races on my world, and many of us don't get along for various reasons. But, we can sometimes tolerate each other and even, on occasion, work together for a common cause.

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[lastnerv]

i guess thats close to what i mean yeah

not actively trying to kill other or refusing to share land/resources would be a step forward from what i was imagining

good for you guys

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[fastballspeciaaaaal]

my world has all kinds of species! there's humans and yetis and demi gods and bearwomen and i think maybe a sentient raccoon. and it's pretty peaceful

...thing is though. we humany types mostly don't know about those other guys? as soon as we found out a bunch of fighting started

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[lastnerv]

yeah see that?

thats exactly what im talking about the jump from "oh hey we aren't alone on this planet" to "let's kill it" and maybe its both sides fault or only one's or whatever its still the worst

i just want to believe thats not a thing in EVERY universe

[ text ]

[dualismum]

In my world there are humans and there is another sapient species called ghouls. Ghouls look very much like human, but they differ quite a lot in terms of biology, physiology and mentality. Ghouls eat humans; it's actually the only thing a ghoul can eat. So humans only see ghouls as monsters and things that should be killed. In return, ghouls live their lives killing humans to survive and often see them just like the wya you see cows and fish.

We don't coexist, no.

[ text ]

[lastnerv]

i

im sorry i dont have any words for how terrible that is other than i wish your world wasnt like that

not that wishes do a whole lot

( text )

[22cm]

No. Especially not if one species is higher on the food chain.

[lastnerv]

ugh

please tell me youre from the ghoul world and there arent multiple realities where thats true

[VIDEO]

[braceforimpact]

[Kaworu usually prefers audio or text, but this time there's video. He greets Shinji with a strange, knowing (and perhaps slightly condescending) smile.]

You ask them and not me?

[lastnerv]

[It's the tail end of trip home so Shinji is comfortable using voice for this.

Well okay, "comfortable" is the wrong word here.]

I already know how you feel. If it could have gone different, you wouldn't have had to ask me...to do what I did.